Arc Angel
by Backpfeifenguy
Summary: An injury leads to the revelation of an unexpected skill and marks the beginning of a time of change for team JNPR
1. Chapter 1: Wounded

Chapter 1: Wounded

There was a damp, meaty thump as the Beowolf went down, dropped by a strike to the throat. It wasn't the first Grimm Jaune Arc had killed today, and it was unlikely to be the last. He whispered some choice words regarding the Intel his team had been given, before a Creep leapt at him, landing on his shield. The blonde youth hurled it backwards, stabbed the reptilian creature through its stub-nosed face and decided to repeat those choice words loud enough for his whole team to hear, because why not? "An easy mission they said! No more than thirty Grimm, forty at most! Well this is the largest forty I've ever seen!" Pyrrha nodded curtly before smoothly switching her weapon from sword to spear, killing a Grimm that Jaune in fact hadn't seen, and then going right back to sword, one of many such timely interventions made over the past hour.

"Thanks Pyrrha! That's another one I owe you!" Jaune shouted, to the huntress at his back straining to be heard over the noise of combat. "You don't owe me anything Jaune, we're teammates!" She called back, kicking a Boarbatusk in the jaw to flip it over and skewering its belly with a single neat thrust of her Xiphos. Jaune and Pyrrha were stood back-to-back in a circle of Grimm, guarding each other with their shields and hacking through the horde of beasts, Nora was in the thick of it, bludgeoning a cluster of Ursi into paste, and Ren was keeping mobile, sort of orbiting Nora and bringing down Grimm with the blades of his weapons and short bursts, no more than three rounds.

The press of monsters was starting to thin, no more than twenty or so left standing, but it had been a long hard fight, so those twenty were a tougher prospect than they had any right to be. Pyrrha shot an Ursa in the back of the head just as it was about to send Nora flying with one swipe of its enormous paws. "I'm out of ammo; that was my last round!" And Nora had run out fifteen minutes ago, Jaune thought to himself, meaning Ren was the only one of them left with any ranged options, unless someone felt like throwing rocks. "Okay guys," The blonde hunter called out. "We're nearly done here, but don't take any stupid risks! Nothing fancy, just kill them, okay?" The others simply nodded before returning to the task at hand. It turned out to be a joint venture that killed the last Grimm, as Ren spin-kicked a Creep toward Nora, who swung her hammer like a baseball bat, sending the creature flying into a tree with enough force to break every bone in its body, or at least all the really important ones.

The members of team JNPR were exhausted; Jaune was bent double, Ren and Pyrrha were both leaning against trees, and even Nora was swaying gently from side to side, her arms slack. After taking a minute to catch his breath, Jaune spoke up. "Alright, status reports; Nora?" He enquired in what he hoped was a confident and professional tone. "A-Okay!" Nora replied, enthusiasm apparently overwriting exhaustion. "Pyrrha?" He turned to look at the girl who had repeatedly saved his life, as well as teaching him how to fight. "I'm alright, just tired." She gave him a small smile, which he decided was to show that she was fine. "How about you Ren?" Ren cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders before replying. "I'm fine, but low on ammunition; only half a clip in each gun, and no spares." Suddenly, there was a rustling noise in the tree line. "Well, that should make our job a lot easier."

With that, a group of Faunus wearing the uniform of the White fang emerged, accompanied by men in suits and sunglasses that screamed "hired muscle". Team JNPR had just spent an hour, an actual honest-to-Oum hour, fighting Grimm, and now they had to fight again, right away. "Well," Jaune muttered. "I'm not too proud to admit that this caught me a little off-guard." His forced attempt at levity rang false in his ears, but it was all he could manage, and he was just desperate to keep his mind off of how bad their situation was. A quick count revealed there to be forty enemies; given the typical skill level of White Fang grunts and hired muscle, not too much of a threat under normal circumstances. Of course, these weren't normal circumstances, and with team JNPR exhausted and almost completely out of ammo, they were looking like a worrying prospect.

They kept to the formation they'd used against the Grimm; Nora right down the centre with Ren supporting her, while Jaune and Pyrrha charged in side by side, watching each other's backs. It worked well enough for a while; they might have been tired, but even Jean had these guys seriously outclassed for the main part. But of course, it got bad soon enough. The key differences between creatures of Grimm and humans and Faunus in a combat situation are as follows; humans and Faunus have Auras to protect them, meaning that they can often get up after a blow that would kill a Grimm. Humans and Faunus have weapons; while Grimm may have claws, fangs and tusks, these are rarely as sharp as a well-maintained blade, and Grimm have nothing equivalent to a gun. And finally; humans and Faunus are smart, able to plan, adapt and work together. As a result, team JNPR were being worn down fast; lucky hits from blades, bludgeons and bullets were eating through what little Aura they had left, and over-exertion was slowing their movements and weakening their strikes.

Seeing that team JNPR were weakened (at the expense of half his men), the leader of the attack joined the fray. Nora was briefly unsupported while Ren fought his way clear of a small cluster of thugs, so he targeted her, striking with the weighted chain (actually a high-tensile cable) of his kusarigama. "Nora, look out!" Ren tried to warn her, but she had her back turned to her assailant, and before she could turn, the weighted cable was wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides. The ram-horned Faunus grinned before pressing a button on the handle of his weapon, and Nora screamed as the smell of burnt hair and ozone filled the air. Stunned by the electric shock and dazed by the pain, Nora offered no resistance as her attacker pulled her toward him with a vicious yank of the cable, and she couldn't even raise her hands to defend herself as he struck at her; the razor-sharp kama slicing through what little remained of her Aura and opening her belly.

Jaune thought Nora's scream was loud when she'd been electrocuted, but that had been nothing compared to what he was hearing now. It barely sounded human, more like an animal in pain than anything else. And suddenly they were moving; rushing to protect their fallen teammate, and Jaune needed to think on the fly. "Nora! Try to keep pressure on the wound, that'll slow the bleeding. Pyrrha and Ren, keep them off of her." Pyrrha nodded in acknowledgement before moving into position; Ren simply dropped three hired thugs with precision shots from the pistol in his left hand while sprinting forwards. "I'll be with you as soon as I've called a medic team for Nora." With that, Jaune pulled out his Scroll and made the call.

Peter Scarlatina was leaning back in his chair when the call came through. He was tired after a long shift spent dealing, mostly, with huntsman and huntresses in training who, thanks to their Auras and inexperience, were so unused to injury that they called for a medic squad at the slightest provocation. He sighed and, taking the call, saw the worried face of a blonde-haired huntsman. "One of my teammates is hurt! We need a medic pronto!" Peter rolled his eyes and twitched his huge ears before responding. "Seriously? Kid, my team's shift ends in five minutes, I'm sure whatever flesh wound your friend has can wait for the next team to take over." At this point it should be noted that Peter Scarlatina was, by and large, a good person. He made regular donations to charity, spent altogether too much time worrying about his niece Velvet, and made a point of always buying his team the first round of drinks after work. As such, he probably didn't deserve what happened next.

The blonde huntsman narrowed his eyes before speaking. "You listen and you listen well," He started, his voice suddenly full of steel. "My teammate is bleeding out, so you're not going to wait for the next medic team on duty to show up and let them handle it. You're going to get over here just as fast as you can, and you're going to work overtime to save her, otherwise I will devote the entirety of the Arc family's resources to making you suffer for the rest of your life. Do I make myself clear?" Peter was reminded of an incident that occurred once when he went ice skating and the ice had broken under him. If he'd been skating alone he would have died for sure, and he still remembered the creaking that he'd heard just before the ice had given way under his weight. That's what the blonde kid sounded like; a warning that there was only a thin, fragile layer separating him from freezing cold death, and that layer wasn't going to last long. "Okay! One medic team coming up! Based on your coordinates, the ETA is fifteen minutes, but we'll be there in twelve!" Peter's voice had taken on the slightly manic tone of someone desperate to be as helpful as possible for fear of what might happen if they were unhelpful. "Okay boys, get your butts onto the airship, we're moving out!" This was met by a chorus of groans from the rest of Peter's team. "Aw, quit whining, there's a life at stake here!" _And it might just be mine_ , he thought.

Author's notes: I know what you're thinking. You must think I'm a bastard, wounding Nora in the first chapter. But I promise you, it will serve a purpose. This was the best option available to me.


	2. Chapter 2: Surprises

Ren was angry. Ren was very angry. Ren quite literally couldn't remember being even remotely close to being as angry as he was right now. Nora was hurt; she could die. This thought circulated through his head over and over again, the unbridled horror of it purging his body of exhaustion, or really anything besides unrelenting fury. Jaune and Pyrrha were both fighting well enough, but Ren barely even registered their existence. He fired the pistol in his left hand again, sending another White Fang grunt flying backwards, before breaking the leg of a suited thug. He struck out with the blade of his right-hand pistol; hitting hard enough to go clean through the pitiful Aura of the petty thug he'd hit and scoring a deep gash across their face. He fired one last burst from his left-hand pistol, leaving two more grunts sprawled out unconscious on the ground, before catching a glimpse of the ram-horned Faunus who hurt Nora.

His eyes narrowed and he threw himself forward, thoughts of vengeance filling his head. The Faunus turned to face him, but Ren was already upon him, using the blades on his pistols like knuckle dusters to deliver six brutal punches. But this was a professional, leagues apart from the grunts that team JNPR were downing with ease. He lashed out with his kama, forcing Ren to dodge, before leaping back and attempting to ensnare him in the same electrified cable that had entangled Nora. But Ren was already in the air, leaping over the cold-blooded assailant and landing behind him with time to deliver an elbow to the kidney and a kick to the ribs. The ram-horned would-be assassin turned around, still winded, just in time for Ren to level his right-hand pistol, with half a clip left, to his face and pull the trigger.

His Aura protected him from every bullet of the half-clip fired at him. Every bullet except the last one, which breached it, losing a great deal of force in the process. That being said, it still had enough force to punch through the ram-horned Faunus' mask and send him sprawling with a badly broken nose. Ren could tell from the scream that his adversary was in a lot of pain. Ren considered how much pain Nora was in. Ren decided to cause his enemy some more pain. He started with a kick to the stomach, winding his already downed opponent. He followed up with a kick to the face, spreading the Faunus' already broken nose across his face and splattering Ren's shoes with blood. The ram-horned assassin reached out for his weapon, and Ren stomped on his wrist, hard. Something broke. Still not enough pain. A swift kick to the groin. Not enough. Stepping on his neck. Not enough. Kick to the ribs. Not enough. Ren wanted, needed to hurt this piece of trash enough to send a message; don't. Hurt. Nora. He suddenly became acutely aware of the weapons in his hands, the weight of them speaking to him. That might be enough…

Jaune dropped the last of the thugs with a shield bash leading into an overhand chop a fraction of a second after Pyrrha incapacitated the last White Fang grunt with a pommel strike to the temple. Enemies vanquished, Jaune rushed to Nora's side, turning pale as he saw that her injury was even worse than he thought. He looked around wildly for his pack, which he'd discarded when the fight had started, and saw that Ren was closest to it. That's when he noticed Ren. He'd expected Ren to go all-out against the leader of the ambush; he'd hurt Nora, so of course Ren wasn't going to hold back, but this was a lot more brutal than he'd anticipated. At that moment, Ren raised both his hands in preparation for a strike, clearly intending to use Stormflower's wicked blades to deliver a deathblow. Now, despite indications to the contrary, Jaune was far from naïve; the Arc family were warriors, so he knew that, sometimes, battles would have to end with someone dead. But he also knew that there was a big difference between killing out of necessity in the heat of battle and killing someone who's already beaten, and he wasn't about to let Ren cross that line.

"STOP!" Jaune expelled all the air in his lungs, putting it all into a single syllable. Ren turned to face Jean, eyes narrowed, mouth set in a deep, thin-lipped scowl. "Stop? Give me one reason to stop after what he did to Nora." Ren's voice was quiet and level, but there was an edge to it that spoke of cold fury. "I'll give you three good reasons," Jaune replied, desperately hoping he sounded more confident than he felt a he applied pressure to Nora's wounded stomach. "One, killing him would make you a murderer." Ren somehow managed, without saying a word or moving, to make it abundantly clear that; in this particular set of circumstances, he could live with being a murderer. "Two, if you kill him we don't have anyone to interrogate; these guys knew where we'd be, and we need to find out how they got that information." Ren seemed to consider this point for a second, but made no indication of lowering his weapons. "Third and final," Jaune said confidently, knowing with absolute certainty that his third point would have the desired effect. "I have a first aid kit in my pack, and you're closest to it."

Pyrrha didn't know Ren could move that fast, especially when exhausted, but somehow he was at Nora's side, first aid kit in hand, before Jaune had even finished his sentence. "Can you save her?" Ren's composure had vanished completely, his voice raw with hope and panic. "No," Ren's face fell. "But I can make it so the medic squad can save her when they show up." Pyrrha let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in, and watched Jaune get to work. "Okay Nora, hold still. Ren, keep her as calm as possible, this is going to hurt, and she needs to hold still." Jaune was all business, his usual nervous disposition absent as he worked. He started by cleaning the wound with a cloth soaked in distilled water, causing Nora to wince. "I know it hurts, but an infection would hurt more." Pyrrha was taken aback by Jaune's voice; firm yet gentle and understanding, and completely calm despite the circumstances. She'd suspected that there were hidden depths to team JNPR's leader, but she hadn't seen this coming. "Okay, this is going to sting, so brace yourself." Jaune pulled out a bottle and sprayed the wound with alcohol while Ren stroked Nora's hand, murmuring pleas to 'keep it together'. It seemed to have the desired effect, as Nora calmed down enough for Jaune to finish sterilising the wound.

Pyrrha was expecting bandages to be next; after all, that was about the extent of what anyone could do without training, but instead, Jaune pulled out a curved needle and some sutures. "Are you sure you know what you're doing? It's pretty easy for an amateur to do more harm than good." Ren was clearly making no effort to conceal the doubt in his voice. "Well then it's a good thing I'm not an amateur!" Jaune snapped. "Pyrrha, I'm going to need you to come over here and hold Nora down for this, otherwise I won't be able to work." Pyrrha nodded and rushed to Nora's side, eager to help out as much as possible. "Okay, Pyrrha get her arms, Ren, you get her legs. Don't let her move, okay? She moves at the wrong time, it's going to be bad." Pyrrha had never heard Jaune talk like this. His tone was just so… commanding. She really hoped nobody noticed the slight blush she could feel colouring her cheeks.

She needn't have worried, as it turned out. As soon as Pyrrha and Ren had Nora held down, Jaune's focus was divided between the needle in his hands and Nora's injury, as if the rest of the world didn't even exist. Even more amazing than his focus was his skill; Jaune handled the needle deftly, quickly and cleanly stitching Nora's wounded belly shut as if he'd done it a thousand times. "One more and… Done!" Jaune said, tying off the last suture before cutting out a rectangle of gauze, smearing it with ointment, and using adhesive strips to fix it in place. "She's in shock, so if either of you have a way of keeping her warm until the medic squad arrives, I'm all ears." Before Jaune had even finished speaking, Ren was already halfway through removing his tailcoat, which he gently lay over Nora like a blanket. "Will she be okay?" Ren's voice was deadly serious; Pyrrha could tell that Nora's wellbeing was the most important thing in the world to him at that moment. "I've done everything I can for her, and Nora's tough, but she's lost a lot of blood." Jaune's voice was calm, gentle; he was doing his best to be comforting, a rock of stability. "But she's going to be okay, right? I mean, she won't die?" Ren was so frantic, so desperate, that it was all Pyrrha could do not to cry. "Not if she gets a blood transfusion in the next fifteen minutes. For now, all we can do is wait for the medic squad."

And wait they did, Jaune pressing two fingers against Nora's neck to check her pulse, Pyrrha circling protectively, and Ren alternating between stroking Nora's hand and her hair while murmuring words of reassurance to her. They waited like this for five minutes, five nerve-wracking minutes, before an airship landed and the medic squad rushed out. The squad leader, a nervous looking rabbit Faunus, was the first to get to Nora. He peeled back the gauze covering her wounded stomach, and looked surprised. "These sutures are pretty good work." He said, his accent reminding Pyrrha of Velvet. "Mind you, judging by how pale she is, I'd say we're looking at a transfusion. Do any of you know her blood type?" He asked, seeming to shy away from making eye contact with Jaune for some strange reason. "A-positive." Ren answered almost instantly, leading Pyrrha to wonder why he'd committed Nora's blood type to memory, until she realise that she was looking at the reason why.

"Okay: Noah, get a bag of A-positive, Sam, I need some morphine, and Lian; I want those clotting agents yesterday." His team didn't even bother nodding, they just got to work. Lian, a rather motherly woman, and Sam, who had a truly ridiculous handlebar moustache, both brought what they were sent for quickly, but Noah, a black man with a weathered face, had some bad news. "What do you mean you don't have it?!" Jaune was practically screaming, and Ren looked ready to kill someone. "I mean we don't have it." Noah seemed more irritated than intimidated by the angry huntsman he was confronted by, something which Pyrrha grudgingly considered to be somewhat impressive. "We used up the last of it earlier today, and we haven't resupplied yet." Ren let out a low moan, an expression of frustration and despair. "And I'm B-negative, so unless one of you is an A-negative, Nora's going to die." He threw a desperate glance at Pyrrha. "Sorry, AB-negative." Ren went blank, his face devoid of emotion; the face of a corpse. "Nora's going to die, this can't be happening." Pyrrha had noticed a hesitant look on Jaune's face, but as she watched, he looked down at Nora, then at Ren, and that hesitation gave way to determination. "No she's not." Everyone turned to look at Jaune, the cold hard certainty in his voice impossible to ignore. "I'm O-positive; universal donor. Take as much blood as you need."

It took the medic team less than a minute to set things up, hooking up a transfusion bag and putting the needle into Jaune's arm. Pyrrha noticed that Jaune seemed pale, and his face had a certain waxy sheen to it for some reason, but she decided not to comment. They took a full pint of blood from Jaune and, in no time at all, hooked it up to Nora's arm. Before long, the colour had begun to return to Nora's cheeks, and the medic team, after checking her blood pressure, gave a thumbs up, indicating that Nora was out of danger. Pyrrha breathed a sigh of relief, and Jaune grinned, weakly at first, then more broadly, but Ren's reaction was incredible. The normally taciturn huntsman was crying tears of joy, his face and body language that of someone whose world made sense again. He turned to Jaune and bowed deeply. "Jaune, I can't thank you enough for what you've done. If it weren't for you, Nora would be…" He trailed off, clearly reluctant to even say it. "Hey man, I was just doing my job; leaders are supposed to take care of their team, it's no big deal." Ren looked up, his expression serious, and grabbed Jaune by the shoulders. "No Jean, it is a big deal. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to Nora. You've saved my oldest and dearest friend, Jaune, and for that, I am forever in your debt."

There was a brief silence, everyone feeling a little bit awkward about Ren's emotional outburst. Jaune grinned nervously before speaking. "Well then, does this make up for that time I got airsick and threw up on your shoes?" Pyrrha found herself giggling at this, the nervous energy built up over their ordeal expelled in the form of laughter. Ren just smiled to himself and brushed the unconscious Nora's hair off of her face. After a few moments of internal debate, Pyrrha decided to ask the question that had been nagging at the back of her mind. "Jaune, those sutures were well done…" Pyrrha wasn't sure how to finish that question without being coming across as insulting, but Jaune just gave her an understanding nod and began his explanation. "For as long as I can remember, I've had recurring nightmares." Pyrrha couldn't believe how… matter-of-fact he sounded; his revelation had even been surprising enough to draw Ren's attention away from Nora, and Jaune was talking as if it were the most normal thing in the world!

"In these nightmares, I see the people I care about," Jaune continued, his voice curiously emotionless. "And I see them die." Nobody said a word for what seemed like hours. Pyrrha couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Jaune to suffer through something like that; then she looked at his face, and she could. It was at this point that her eyes began to fill with tears. "They die, slowly. They bleed out, and there's nothing I can do to save them." Realisation dawned. "So that's why," Pyrrha whispered, eyes wide and breathing shallow. "You learned because of the nightmares." Jaune grinned, rueful and sardonic. "Some people work hard to make their dreams come true; I've always worked to make sure mine don't. When I was twelve, I talked my parents into letting me take first aid courses, basic and advanced." He grinned again, this time with some warmth to it. "My dad actually loved the idea; he said that an Arc should protect the people they care about however they can." It took a minute for Pyrrha to find her voice, and when she did it was strangled and hoarse. "And the nightmares? Did they go away after you learned first aid?" She asked, dreading what she might hear. "Sort of," Jaune started his voice and face taking on the aspect of someone trying to give the impression that everything's fine. "They're a lot less common, less than once a week instead of every other night. Of course, there's been a lot more variety since I showed up at Beacon; now I see team RWBY and, more often, you guys." She could see him abandon the pretence, as he allowed himself to look miserable. "Yeah, that's been rough." They fell silent, the only sounds being the roar of the engines and Nora's steady breathing, which had a peaceful quality to it that only copious amounts of morphine could create. It remained like this until they reached Beacon, their physical and emotional exhaustion precluding any attempts at further conversation.

Author's notes: Oh boy, this one is... something, huh? I felt like first aid was a natural fit for someone like Jaune, but I wanted his reason for learning it to be more than a passing fancy. Nightmares seemed more original than 'someone he couldn't save', so I went with it. If you'd checked my profile, you'd know to expect this; i'm the guy with the face you want to punch, and this is why. I am... utterly merciless towards my characters. I originally had Ren weeping openly, but decided against it; he seems like someone who, when they hit this level of misery, shuts down, so that's what I went with. The medic team's name is team PNLS, or Painless. Their full names are Peter Scarlatina (Peter Rabbit), Noah Barleycorn (Jim Barleycorn, a character you don't really encounter anymore because he is, to be blunt, more than a little uncomfortable for people to deal with), Lian Florence (Florence Nightingale), and Samuel(i honestly couldn't think of a fourth character at the time, so I'm open to suggestions).


	3. Chapter 3: Rage

Pain. Nora's world was pain. She tried to open her eyes, but fresh blooms of agony flared up, and they said that her eyes were staying shut. She shifted her weight, and immediately regretted it as her abdomen caught fire. She lay completely still until the pain had died down, becoming merely agonising instead of debilitating, and noticed something besides the pain (difficult, seeing as how there was so much pain for it to be besides). Warmth. Pressure. Her right hand. Slowly, pain dulling her thoughts, she came to the conclusion that someone was holding her right hand. After a moment's consideration, Nora slowly opened her eyes. Ren gave her a warm smile and stroked her hand. "Good morning, Nora."

"What happened?" Nora mumbled, still woozy from the combination of pain and morphine. "You were injured on the mission. Remember? The White Fang ambushed us, along with some thugs." The dreadful spectre of recollection loomed large in Nora's mind. Well, that explained the injuries. "It hurts." Nora knew she was stating the obvious, but she had to. _Everything_ hurt. Her wounded stomach was, of course, the most painful, but the electric shock that had first incapacitated her had left her with an assortment of burns and pulled muscles, each one making itself known at every opportunity. "I'll talk to one of the nurses, maybe you're due some more painkillers." Silence. Suddenly, Nora noticed how dry her mouth was. She was, on reflection, thirstier than she'd thought possible. There was a pitcher of water on the bedside table next to her. Cool, refreshing water. Water that, due to her injuries, she couldn't possibly reach. Ren looked at her, then at the pitcher of water, and poured a glass of water, silently offering it to her.

Quietly considerate; that was Ren all over. Nora knew that a lot of people took Ren's stoic exterior to mean that he was cold and impassive, but she knew better. Ren cared about people, he just didn't show it. He'd told her why, too. It came down to his training, apparently. His parents had instructed him in martial arts since he learned how to walk, and a huge part of that training had been mental conditioning. He'd been taught discipline, self-control and tranquillity. The result of that training was that Ren never let his emotions get the better of him, never surrendered control to them. He still felt the same emotions as everybody else, he just… kept them on a tighter leash.

"We were worried about you." Nora could hear it; over the years she'd become skilled at reading the subtle signs by which his emotions made themselves known, learned how to hear what he wanted to say but couldn't. And what she heard was ' _Nora! I was so worried about you!'_ Nora grinned sheepishly. "Sorry!" Ren's mouth twitched, a tiny upward motion at the corners that she knew was his equivalent of a broad smile. "I'm just glad that you're not dead." _I don't know what I would have done if you'd died._ Silence for a few seconds, then Ren sighed; never a good sign. "I lost control." Wham. The words hit Nora like a brick to the solar plexus; Ren lost control? Impossible, she must have just misheard him. "I almost killed someone: when I when I saw you go down, I thought… thought maybe you were staying down. I just got so _angry_ , and I… I lost it. I hit him until he couldn't fight back, and then I kept hitting. If Jean hadn't stopped me, I would have killed him for sure."

Nora was sure she could feel her head spinning. Ren had gotten angry? _Ren_ had gotten _angry?_ She couldn't remember ever seeing Ren angry. Exasperated, yes. Frustrated, occasionally. Annoyed from time to time. But angry? Never; it just wasn't in his nature to let his anger get the better of him. It would be like Blake being loud and outgoing, Ruby being impassive, or Cardin being _nice_ ; against the natural order, and disturbing to contemplate. _And he'd done it because I got hurt._ Of course she knew he cared about her; they were old friends, after all. But to think that he cared about her enough to fly into a rage because she'd been hurt, to think that his anger at her pain would be strong enough to overpower his training… Well, it gave her a lot to think about. She motioned for him to lean in. "What is it, Nora?" She smiled and tapped his nose. "Boop."

"Alright, it's time for a new morphine drip, so I'm afraid your boyfriend is going to have to move so I can work." A rabbit Faunus in a medical uniform had walked into the room. "Oh! It's not like that! I mean, we're not together-together! No offense, Ren! I mean, you're nice, and smart and handsome, but…" He silenced her with a wave. "Only teasing, love. Now, you should probably know that you'll be in here for a while. The git who cut you was using a poisoned blade; the poison blocks your aura, so it won't speed up your healing until the poison's out of your system." He made casual conversation with them while he hooked up Nora's new morphine drip, and left promptly. "Wow, so the rumours are true; looks like you got messed up pretty bad." Nora hadn't been expecting a visit from Cardin, and she didn't want one. "Hey, Jauney boy got this for, you; I thought I'd go ahead and deliver it." _Maybe he'll be nice; if Ren can lose his temper, anything's possible._ Cardin was _not_ nice.

Jaune was on his way to visit Nora in the infirmary so he could drop off a box of chocolates as a get well present when he ran into Cardin and his team. Literally. "Hey Jauney boy, good to see you!" Cardin was being friendly, always a bad sign. "Hey Cardin." His grin widened, becoming predatory. "I was worried about you man, heard you got ambushed on your mission. In fact, I heard one of you guys nearly died, and of course I immediately thought of you." A weak insult, but Jaune decided not to pass comment, instead trying to get through and deliver Nora's get well present as quickly as possible. "But no, apparently it's that annoying little pixie Nora. I'm guessing those chocolates are for her?" At this, Sky grabbed the box out of his hands and threw it to Cardin. "Yeah, they're a get well present." Jaune said, apprehension rising. "Hey, I recognise this brand! These are some nice chocolates; expensive ones, too." Jaune knew exactly what was coming next, and he knew that he couldn't do anything to stop it. After all, it'd be the whole of team CRDL against him. Pyrrha could manage it, but him? No chance. "Tell you what, Jauney boy; I was planning on swinging by the infirmary anyway, so how about I drop these off for you?" This was punctuated, Cardin being Cardin, by a knee to the stomach that dropped Jaune to the ground, gasping for air. "No objections? Alright then." With that, he walked off towards the infirmary, not even waiting until he was out of view to open the box and start eating the chocolates.

By the time Jaune had recovered and made it to the infirmary, team CRDL were walking out, laughing and high-fiving, although Sky appeared slightly uncomfortable. Needless to say, this worried him. When he walked through the door, he was greeted by a singularly unpleasant sight; Nora was curled into a ball, clutching her stomach and sobbing while Ren tried hopelessly to comfort her. "Nora, Ren, what's wrong, what did they do?" Jaune stopped as he saw it; a spot of red peeking through from between Nora's fingers, a bloodstain on her hospital gown. "They threw the box right at her wound," Ren said, his voice carrying an edge of cold, barely contained fury. "I think it tore one of her stitches." Jaune felt like he'd swallowed a burning coal; the anger boiling up through his body, filling his mind with thoughts of violence. "That's not all," Ren whispered, perfectly controlled rage radiating from him like heat from a furnace. "Look in the box." And sure enough, nestled among the empty wrappers, there was a note bearing what Jaune judged to be Russel's handwriting, which read: LOSERS DON'T GET CHOCOLATE!

Cardin was still riding high off of his little visit to the infirmary when combat training rolled around, and why not? It was hilarious; the way that annoying, hyperactive little brat squirmed in pain, the look on that aloof punk's face when he realised he had to just let them leave because starting a fight could get his little friend hurt; Cardin could barely keep himself from laughing out loud. Jauney boy walked in, and Cardin felt his grin widen at the dirty look he received from the blonde loser. And just when he thought things couldn't get any better, they did; Ms Goodwitch paired him with Jauney boy for the first sparring match. Jauney boy spoke as they stood facing each other in the ring. "You hurt my teammate. You hurt my friend." Cardin gave a snort of derision. "What, she can't handle a little harmless fun? I threw an empty box of chocolates, not a grenade." Jauney boy's eyes narrowed, and Cardin felt a tiny buzz of apprehension, a raising of the hairs on the back of his neck, which he ignored. "A box of chocolates that hit her wound; you tore a stitch you psychopath!" Cardin felt that buzz increase, but forced it out of his mind; it was Jauney boy for Oum's sake! "Did I?" He grinned hugely. "Oops."

Ms Goodwitch gave the signal to begin, and Jauney boy shot forward, way faster than Cardin had expected. He managed to send the blonde weakling flying, but it was a clumsy, reflexive swing, and he found himself stumbling forward due to the lack of a proper follow-through. Jauney boy, on the other hand, was charging again as soon as he hit the ground, landing the second and third hits of the match before Cardin could recover. He swung at the blonde huntsman, but somehow his mace hit nothing but empty air, his opponent ducking under it as if it were moving in slow motion. His next strike bounced off of Jauney Boy's (where did that capital letter come from?) shield, and suddenly, Jauney Boy was an inch from his face, glaring at him with a look of unbridled hate. He lashed out with a kick aimed at Jauney Boy's stomach, but the blonde huntsman, who was becoming more and more worrying with every second, just swayed to one side, dodging it with a sneer of contempt before landing half a dozen hits on Cardin. "Okay Jauney Boy," Cardin panted. "You asked for it." With that, he brought his mace crashing to the ground, pressing the button on its haft and sending a wave of fire at Jauney Boy (seriously, why was he suddenly thinking of that name with a capital 'b'?), who rolled to one side to avoid it, leaving himself open.

Cardin rushed in, eager to take advantage of this opportunity, and swung at Jauney Boy's face, only for the boy to roll aside and sweep Cardin's legs out from under him with a kick. Jauney Boy (that damn capital letter!) was up before him, and landed a kick to the side of his head in short order. "Get up Cardin; we're not done yet." It was his voice that got to Cardin; it was cold, hard, and vicious. Not the sort of thing he'd associate with Jauney Boy at all, really. Cardin forced himself to his feet and swung his mace two-handed at the blonde huntsman's chest, only to miss completely and take a shield bash square in the face, followed by a dozen blows. He lashed out again, an upward swing that caught Jauney Boy square on the chin, and felt some confidence return; the loser had picked up a few moves, got a few lucky hits, but he was still the same weakling he always was. He'd just underestimated Jauney Boy, got cocky. He pressed the attack, forcing Jauney Boy back as blow after blow crashed against his shield. Every now and then, a mace-blow or kick would get past the blonde huntsman's guard, hitting home. Now he was forced onto the defensive and Cardin had the upper hand, as usual. "Not bad Jauney Boy, but you're still outclassed." Cardin sneered. "With a leader like you, is it any wonder Nora got taken down?" With that, Cardin struck again, an overhead swing and… was surprised when it stopped halfway down, unable to push down any further against Jauney Boy's sword, which was pushing up against it just below the head.

And suddenly Jauney Boy was screaming, a wordless howl of rage. But enraged or not, Cardin was much bigger and stronger than Jauney Boy, and he allowed himself a vicious grin as he felt his mace shift lower and lower, clearly about to overwhelm Jauney boy (and just like that, the capital letter was gone). But then Jauney Boy (back already!) went off of the script; he tilted his blade and thrust forward, taking the blow on his shoulder and scoring a shallow cut along Cardin's cheek. Wait a minute, a cut? His Aura was exhausted! Jauney Boy rammed his shield into Cardin's chest, knocking him to the ground. He tried to get back up, but Jaune placed a foot in the middle of his chest and pushed down hard enough to pin him to the ground.

Jaune (there was no calling him Jauney Boy at this point) raised his sword over his head point down; perfect for a downward stab through Cardin's face. "Come on Jaune, stop kidding around!" Cardin could barely believe how terrified he sounded. "I mean, you wouldn't really kill me, would you?" Why wasn't Goodwitch breaking this up? Cardin wanted to crane his neck and see what was keeping her from stopping the fight, but at the same time he found he couldn't take his eyes off of Jaune and, more importantly, his sword. "Remember the Ursa, Cardin? Remember what I told you?" Cardin looked up into Jaunes, eyes, and found himself desperately hoping that nobody would notice the dampness spreading across his pants. "Sure I do Jaune; you told me not to hurt your friends." Jaune's expression seemed to harden, setting itself as if in stone. "And what did you do?" He was practically shouting now. "I… I guess I hurt one of your friends, didn't I?" Maybe everyone would think it was just sweat… "So then, Cardin, why _shouldn't_ I finish you off? You _had_ your warning, and you ignored it!" Cardin stopped caring about embarrassment, about reputation and image; now all he cared about was surviving. " _I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!_ " Jaune roared and drove the point of his sword down.

"Well, you should have said so earlier." Suddenly the enraged warrior was gone, and regular old Jauney boy was back. "I really don't know why you had so much trouble apologising, man." He took his hands off of his sword's hilt and held one out to Cardin, who took it. "Of course," And suddenly Jaune's voice was like the fizzing of a fuse burning down, and Cardin's hand felt like it was in a vice. "Apologising to me isn't going to be enough. You're going to want to apologise to Nora, and probably give her a little something or other, just to make it up to her." Cardin opened his mouth to protest this blatant extortion, and promptly shut it again when he saw Crucea Mors. Jaune had stabbed it into the floor right next to Cardin's head, and there it remained. Still upright. Lodged in the floor. The concrete floor.

Cardin, despite appearances, was not stupid. Oh, he was an academic joke; slacking off in class, working out instead of reading, and seldom using words much long than 'potato', but he was, in some ways, very clever indeed. Cardin was an opportunist; an amoral scumbag who excelled at ruthlessly exploiting other people for his own gain, and who had mastered the art of looking out for himself. And right now, it was clear that the only way to look out for himself was to say "How about I replace those chocolates? With the extra-large deluxe assortment, of course." Jaune turned his glare towards the rest of the class, seeking out Russel, Dove and Sky and speared them with a Look (note the capital 'L'). "How about some flowers to brighten up the room?" Offered Sky, who could recognise danger when he saw it. "A fruit basket would be traditional." Dove chimed in, catching on quick. "I think she reads X-Ray and Vav, so I could get her that new Mogar crossover book." Blurted Russel, who had taken a bit longer than the rest of his team to work out Jaune's meaning (or perhaps just to think of an offering, the obvious choices having been taken). Jaune smiled like a shark. "See? I knew you guys could be nice."

Author's notes: I won't lie, it was FUN writing this, the first of three defeats that Cardin will suffer by story's end. It was fun because I have been the victim of a LOT of bullying, so writing a bully getting so utterly wrecked was fun. beyond that, I feel like I handled the relationship between Ren and Nora fairly well, and I make no apologies for my cruelty. That's it for now, but I'm working on more.


	4. Chapter 4: A friendly conversation

Pyrrha was stunned. Was this really Jaune? Did awkward, shy, unassuming Jaune really just do that? True, Cardin was an unexceptional fighter, but for Jaune to defeat him so thoroughly was unexpected, even with Pyrrha's training. And that was the part Pyrrha was having the _least_ trouble processing! Since the very first day at Beacon, Pyrrha had known Jaune to be, well, nice. He was shy, he was often silly, and he didn't know the first thing about girls, but he was always kind, always friendly.

He was the boy who asked her to join his team without knowing she was a champion. He was the boy who, after finally realising that Weiss wasn't even remotely interested in dating him, had given good advice to the boy she _was_ interested in dating. For crying out loud, he was the boy who, _in front of the entire school_ , danced in a dress (one that did _not_ have the legs for) because 'an Arc never goes back on his word'.

And yet, he was now also the boy who made the biggest bully in the school wet himself, and drove a sword deep enough into solid concrete for it to remain upright. He was now the boy who intimidated an entire team into buying gifts for an injured huntress. The boy who would never, under _any_ circumstances, stand by and do nothing if one of his friends was hurt, if one of his friends needed his help. It struck Pyrrha, as she sent a video of the fight to Nora's scroll, that until now she'd only known one side of her team's leader.

She'd known the soft, compassionate nature that made up most of Jaune, the side of him that just wanted to help people and do the right thing. That side alone was enough for her to develop what she would gladly admit was quite the crush on him. And this new side of him, this angry, powerful side… well it spoke to something primal in her, and she could feel an absolutely luminous blush spreading across her face.

It started off small; people talking among themselves, nobody quite believing what had happened. Then came the first few scattered cheers; nobody particularly liked Cardin in the first place, and after hearing about what he did to Nora, the crowd was definitely on Jaune's side. Suddenly, everyone was one their feet, clapping and cheering; at first a wide variety of cheers, ranging from 'you rock', to 'suck it Cardin', and 'that'll show him', and of course the ever-reliable 'WOOOOOOOO!' But it didn't take long for the cheering to homogenise, as everyone fell back on the old standby, chanting 'Jaune, Jaune, Jaune' as loud as they could.

Pyrrha looked around as she joined the chant; Yang (who was responsible for more than a few cries 'suck it' and 'WOOOO!') was clapping in time with the chant, her gauntlets crashing together with every cheer. Ruby was leaping and capering as she cheered, even Blake was saying his name, albeit quietly. But it was Weiss's reaction that got Pyrrha's attention; the Schnee heiress was staring, muttering Jaune's name, and looking first stunned, then contemplative, as if she was drastically rethinking her views of him. Pyrrha resolved to have a conversation with Weiss later, regarding the matters of spilt milk and accepting missed opportunities.

" _Mister Arc!_ " Miss Goodwitch's voice cut through the cheers like a hot knife through butter or, apparently, a sword through concrete.

"I will admit to being pleased with your sudden improvement." She saw him hazard a nervous grin. "Your conduct however, is a different story." Glynda Goodwitch was not happy; she'd just seen one student injure another, albeit superficially, and she wanted to know why the previously harmless Jaune Arc had issued what sounded alarmingly close to a death threat. "Honestly, threatening another student, fighting to the point of injury, blackmail; what were you thinking?" She was at least somewhat placated by the look of contrition she saw on his face.

"I'm sorry, Miss Goodwitch; I'm not sure if I was thinking at all."

Her curiosity won out over her anger. "You said that mister Winchester hurt Miss Valkyrie? Could you please elaborate?" And so he did, and Glynda found herself growing angrier with every word. " _Mister Winchester_ , is this true?" She could see him hesitate slightly, a cue that he was about to lie. "The _truth_ , mister Winchester." He didn't speak, simply nodding his head with a look of shame on his face that Glynda sincerely doubted could look any more clearly false.

She took a few deep breaths, struggling to maintain her calm in the face of such cruelty committed by one of her students, and turned to Jaune. "Mister Arc, I want to make it clear that I do _not_ approve of your behaviour. However, due to the circumstances surrounding the event, you will receive no punishment for your actions. That being said, your behaviour necessitates a trip to Professor Port for counselling."

She saw Cardin's evil little grin, and her eyes narrowed. "As for _you_ , mister Winchester; you are in very serious trouble indeed." His grin was replaced with a look of panic. "In all my years of teaching, I have never even heard of such cruelty by a student. You stole a gift intended for an injured student, _assaulted_ that student, and left a hurtful message, just to add insult to injury. Here is what will happen next, mister Winchester. You will start by showering and changing your clothes, which," She sniffed disapprovingly "Have become distressingly fragrant."

There was, despite the tense atmosphere, a certain amount of chuckling among the student body. "After that, mister Winchester, you and your team will all deliver the conciliatory gifts that you promised, as well as hand-written apologies. Then, you will spend a great deal of time becoming acquainted with the world of cleaning. Do I make myself clear?" Glynda saw Cardin open his mouth to protest, and speared him with a warning glance, causing him to nod mutely instead. "Good, I'd hate to think I left room for any misunderstandings."

"Oh man, did you see that?" Yang's tone was jovial, excited; she sounded like someone who had just finished watching a really great action movie. "That part where he blocked Cardin's mace and got all up in his face?"

Ruby, who was if anything looking even more hyped than Yang, chimed in. "Ooh, or when he stabbed his sword into the floor and it stayed up! That was so _cool!_ " Weiss didn't respond, she was busy thinking; trying to make sense out of what she'd seen, and what was going on in her head.

"I'll admit," Blake began quietly, but with an uncharacteristic little grin on her face. "It was satisfying, seeing Cardin so frightened that he wet himself."

Even in her reverie, Weiss still smiled at that, pleased by the thought of Cardin's humiliation. _Humiliation courtesy of Jaune Arc. Does that sound right?_ Weiss shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought. "I'll admit, I didn't think Jaune had it in him." Yang said, grinning hugely.

"Me neither." Weiss murmured. _THAT'S an understatement. And sooner or later, you're going to have to put on my big girl dress (it's a combat skirt!), and ask yourself some tough questions…_

It was at this point that her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Pyrrha. "Excuse me Weiss," Pyrrha began, smiling broadly. "Could I have a word with you?" She didn't even wait for a reply, instead taking Weiss by the arm and dragging her into the girl's locker room.

"Okay Pyrrha, what did you want to talk to me about?" Weiss asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

"Jaune's certainly improved a lot hasn't he?" Pyrrha said, looking expectantly at Weiss.

"Oh, _that's_ what this is about?" Weiss hesitated, before deciding hey; why not tell her now? _You can't run from this any longer; time to face the truth._

"I was thinking along the same lines. I'll admit, righteous fury looks good on Jaune. Well," She amended. "Good for Jaune." _Sure, go ahead and insult him, that's the way to move forwards._ "In fact," She went on, eager to quiet her thoughts. "I was wondering if you could help me out with something." Pyrrha's eyes widened a little, then narrowed a lot.

"What did you need help with?" She asked, sounding, at least to Weiss, unusually confrontational, almost interrogative.

"Well, there's something I want to say to him and I thought that you'd know how best to phrase it to get the right reaction, seeing as how you're his teammate."

The room suddenly seemed a lot colder. "What did you want to tell him?" Pyrrha's voice was bright, and she was smiling, or at least, the corners of her mouth were turned upwards and her teeth were showing, but Weiss got the distinct impression that she was in a bad situation.

"Well, I was thinking, and given recent events, I feel that I misjudged Jaune, so I want to apologise."

Pyrrha's face as she reacted to this news was, in Weiss's opinion, a sight to behold. Her stern expression melted, replaced by one of confusion, as if she'd just had the rug pulled out from under her. And almost as soon as it arrived, this look of confusion was replaced by one of relief. "Oh, that's all? For a second there, I thought you wanted my help asking him out!" At this, Weiss found herself laughing, the sheer absurdity of it overwhelming.

"You _what?_ Me, dating Jaune? I don't mean to be rude, but did you hit your head on something? At _Mach twenty?_ " Weiss noticed that the smile on Pyrrha's face was beginning to slip at the edges. _Okay, that last joke might have been a bit much, dial it back a little._ "Sorry for laughing Pyrrha, but the idea that I'd ever want to go out with someone like Jaune is patently ridiculous. Granted, he's improved a lot." Weiss conceded, grudgingly giving credit where it was due. "But there is _no way_ I'd ever be attracted to someone like him. I mean, who in Remnant would ever be attracted to someone so neurotic, clumsy, awkward and downright cheesy? I mean," She laughed. "You'd need to be desperate or insane to be interested into someone… like… oh."

 _There it is! Finally worked it out, have we? Started to wonder why Pyrrha would care whether or not you wanted to ask Jaune out? Open mouth, insert foot._ "But, I mean, Jaune's a really nice guy!" The sentiment made Weiss want to cringe, and she was the one saying it. Nice guy? That was the best she could come up with? "Of course, he's awkward, and not exactly the brightest." _Why are you saying this? You've already got yourself pretty deep in that hole, stop digging._

"You know what? You're right." Pyrrha's voice was cheerful, and for a second Weiss thought she was in the clear as Pyrrha laid a hand on her shoulder. "Jaune _is_ kind of awkward, and he'll never be Oum's gift to academia." Pyrrha began to grip Weiss's shoulder, giving it a friendly squeeze. "He's not much of a fighter either, although Cardin would probably say otherwise."

"Right!" Weiss, agreed frantically. "So we're cool, right?" Pyrrha squeezed her shoulder harder, applying _just_ enough pressure to be uncomfortable without causing any actual pain, while also making it clear that pain is imminent. _Wrong._

"Of course," Pyrrha went on, her voice suddenly gaining a hint of menace. "For all that he might be awkward, dopey, weak,"

"Scraggly." A jolt of pain in her shoulder told her to shut up.

"And cheesy, the fact is that he _cares_." Weiss knew that it was a bad idea to speak up, that she should have contented herself with raising an eyebrow, but she couldn't resist.

"Oh, well if you put it like _that_ , I suppose I must be out of my mind not to have a crush on him. After all, what more could I ask for than a guy who _isn't a jerk_?" The pressure increased further, and she was sure she heard her collarbone begin to creak.

"He worries that he's not good enough to lead team JNPR," Weiss privately took this to be evidence that he was smarter than she'd thought, but had the good sense to keep it to herself. "So he's constantly pushing himself to improve. If someone gives him a hard time, he just puts up with it, but if they try to hurt us, he acts like he did back there with Cardin. He's _sweet_. He kept to that stupid bet about the dance, all because I was feeling down and he wanted to make me smile."

"And he did _not_ have the legs for that dress." Weiss joked, desperate to defuse the situation before she lost the use of her arm.

"You're not wrong, but that's beside the point." Pyrrha's face shifted from its previously serious expression to the wicked grin of a chess grandmaster who knows how to get their opponent into checkmate. "You seem to have forgotten the kindness he showed you, Weiss."

"What are you talking about? When have I ever needed to be shown kindness by that-"

"Neptune." _She knows about that? Game over._ "Jaune spent months asking you out, trying to convince you that he was worth your time," Weiss felt the pressure on her hand increase almost imperceptibly, and knew that Jaune's past infatuation with her was a sore point for Pyrrha. "And when it becomes clear that you're interested in Neptune, he accepts your choice and leaves you alone. _Then_ , when Neptune blew you off,"

"Hey, he did _not_ -"

"When Neptune _blew you off_ because he couldn't dance and didn't want to harm his oh-so-cool image, what did Jaune do? Did he make fun of you? Did he try to catch you on the rebound? No, he went and talked Neptune into going to the dance, because he _wanted you to be happy_!" Weiss breathed a sigh of relief as she felt Pyrrha's grip relax and the red-haired huntress released her shoulder. "So you know what, Snow Angel? You can keep Neptune, because cool is all he'll ever be, but Jaune? He will be _awesome_ , and you can't have him." With that, Pyrrha gave her the brightest, most condescending grin she'd eve seen, and practically _skipped_ out of the locker room.

"…Ouch." _Apply cold water to burned area._

Author's notes: So… this is the most dialog heavy chapter so far, and possibly the most dialog-heavy thing I've ever written. Thanks to garoorar for the advice about my formatting; if I'd formatted a chapter _this_ dialog heavy the way I formatted the previous three it would have been almost illegible. Now to talk about decisions made this chapter. I decided that Port should be school counsellor because I already intend to introduce some OCs later on, and didn't want to overload the story with them. That meant I needed to use a pre-existing character; Ozpin would be too busy Running beacon, Goodwitch is way too stern, and Oobleck, well… a counsellor needs to be able to put students at ease, and it is _impossible_ to imagine Oobleck putting anyone at ease. Port however… he has a friendly demeanour, a low, soft voice, he speaks slowly and calmly, and we've seen him give good advice in the past, when Weiss was ticked off over not being the team leader.

Speaking of Weiss, you may have noticed that she got, chewed out pretty severely this chapter. That's because she needed and deserved it. See, she reminds me of an incident that occurred a few years back. I was on a class trip to the Sydney opera House for a class trip (I'm Australian, so that might explain any odd spelling; they're not typos, I'm just not using the American spelling), and there were students from a few other schools. A few other schools which happened to be private schools, whereas mine was a public school. They were not nice. They were arrogant snobs, with snob of the day going to the girl who complained about being seated next to students from my school because, and I quote "I don't want to sit next to the _povvo_ kids." Weiss reminds me of that in her arrogance and infuriatingly superior bearing, so I felt that she needed to be taken down a peg. It's a pleasure writing for you guys and, as always, feel free to give me some feedback.


	5. Chapter 5: Counselling

It was a nice door. Dark oak, with just enough decorative carving to draw the eye without being ostentatious. Given that no other door in Beacon looked like it, Jaune was forced to assume that professor Port had installed it himself, wanting to appoint his office to best suit his tastes. Jaune considered how odd it was that professor Port's office had a much nicer door than Ozpin's, which was harsh and minimalistic, just like the rest of his office. Jaune contemplated these things because the alternative was to knock on the door and begin his first counselling session. His first counselling session with professor Port. He could already feel parts of his brain trying their best to shut down in preparation for the inevitable rambling stories of 'glory' and 'triumph' that the man would launch into.

"Come on, Jaune, man up. You've worn a dress in front of the entire school, you've fought Grimm, you can do this… I really didn't have the legs for that dress. That's not important! You're doing this for your team." Having talked himself into it, Jaune took a deep breath and knocked on the extremely-nice-dark-oak-with-decorative-carvings-but-not-too-many-door.

"Come in!" Professor Port's voice rang out, jovial and welcoming as always. Jaune opened the door. "Ah! I've been expecting you, mister Arc." Jaune was led to an old, somewhat overstuffed armchair which proved to be the single most comfortable piece of furniture he'd ever encountered. Looking around, professor Port's office seemed to follow the precedent set down by the door and the chair; the furniture was all old, but well looked-after, and clearly of very high quality. Wooden panelling and red leather ruled the room, giving the impression of a very high-class hunting lodge, an impression which was helped along by the heads of various creature of Grimm, stuffed and mounted on the walls. Jaune saw Beowolves, Ursa, Nevermores, Boarbatusks and…

"What kind of Grimm is that?" Jaune asked, pointing to what looked like a bull's head, if bulls were twice as large and pure evil.

"Oh, you mean Edgar?" Port relpied, eyebrow cocked. "He's a Minos; you don't really see that many of them around Vale these days. But on to business; you came here for counselling, not a lesson in the different types of Grimm."

"A pity, because I'd like to hear about how you killed such a fearsome Grimm." Jaune said, hoping to send professor Port off on one of his trademark rambling stories and put off the dreaded counselling session.

"Maybe later, but right now your counselling is more important. After what you did to Cardin there really wasn't any other option. Although," He leaned in conspiratorially. "Off the record, I think it was about time someone showed that boy what for. Incidentally, how _did_ you get your sword to stick in the ground like that? Because I sincerely doubt that you have the brute strength required to manage something like that without there being a trick to it."

"Oh, that?" Jaune asked, confused by the direction that the counselling session was going. "Cardin had cracked it when he sent those blasts at me; I just aimed for the largest crack." Port nodded sagely.

"Yes, that makes sense. Well, with the matter of _how_ taken care of, I feel I should probably ask you _why_."

"Honestly? He'd hurt my friend, and I wanted to make a point." What was going on? Did counselling usually go like this?

"You feel… protective of your friends?" The question caught Jaune off guard. Protective? Well, that was true enough, but he'd never have thought to use a word like that. After all, how could he ever hope to protect them?

"I guess it's kind of stupid." Jaune chuckled nervously, uncomfortable with the silence that followed. "I mean, I'm the weakest member of my team, why should I feel protective of them?" He stared listlessly at the floor. "The best thing I could do to protect them would be to drop out." He noticed that the professor was looking at him disapprovingly.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, mister Arc" He said, his voice suddenly stern. "Don't say it again. As a teacher, nothing makes me despair quite like a student giving up on themselves." Jaune blinked a few times, stunned. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but this wasn't it.

"But it's true; I'm a mediocre student at best, I get scared easily, and I suck at fighting." He looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact; a picture of shame.

"You're far too harsh on yourself; while students like Weiss, Blake and Ren have you outclassed academically, you're still a slightly above average student, and your combat skills are improving rapidly, as Cardin can attest." Jaune suppressed a snort of laughter at that; the memory of Cardin begging for mercy and wetting himself was definitely worth holding on to.

"And the fear?" He asked, genuinely curious to hear what the moustached teacher had to say.

"Fear? You're a hunter in training. You fight monsters. To do what we do without fear wouldn't be bravery, it would be a sign of insanity. Being fearless just means being too stupid to understand danger; a fungus could do that." Jaune nodded along right up until the part about the fungus.

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked, utterly baffled. "A _fungus_?" Professor Port shrugged.

"It's just how I like to say that something isn't very impressive or desirable. After all, who wants to be on the same level as a mushroom? Besides," His moustache twitched up at the corners, indicating a grin underneath. "I'm not wrong." Jaune found himself grinning at that.

"Amazing; you keep Grimm in cages, call a stuffed head 'Edgar', wink at female students," Port had the decency to look embarrassed at that point. "And compare people to fungus, and _I'm_ the one who needs counselling."

"Well, it just goes to show you find all sorts in Beacon; eccentric professors, hyperactive child prodigies, surprisingly talented young forgers…" Jaune knew he was busted.

"You see, the thing about that is- I mean, it's actually a really funny story… please don't kick me out." Jaune wondered how long Port had known his secret for, he wondered who else knew, and why he was yet to be expelled. But mostly, he wondered if he'd be able to get away faster if he jumped through the window.

"It was a rather impressive job, actually; you replicated all the signatures perfectly." No, probably not; they were a few stories up, and even with his Aura, the fall was sure to leave him with a sprained ankle at the very least.

"I spent months practicing them before I used the stolen transcripts." Mind you, if he aimed it right, he might be able get to cover quickly, and then he could cut through the forest.

"That was obvious just from looking at them. Unfortunately, the serial numbers were wrong; I could tell that they were old transcripts because of that little slip-up." Yeah, cut through the forest, head into town, empty his account, dye his hair, get some new clothes and hop onto a ship heading out of Vale. "Something of an amateurish mistake, given all the effort you put into it." Maybe Atlas, or Mistral.

"I'll keep that in mind." There it was! His opening! Jaune leapt out of his seat, ran for the window… and bounced right off it.

"Reinforced glass; every window in Beacon is bulletproof, so I doubt you'll be able to get through." Okay, that just left the door. He bolted to it, grabbed the doorknob, turned and… it was locked. "You can calm down; I've no intention of spreading your little secret." So, if he wanted to get out, he'd have to knock out professor Port and take the key- wait, what was that?

"Seriously? You won't tell Ozpin?" Jaune asked, baffled beyond belief. What kind of teacher found out about something like that and kept it a secret? And how lucky was he that professor Port was that kind of teacher? "Why not?" Port gestured towards the overstuffed armchair, motioning for Jaune to sit back down.

"Well, I should probably clarify; I have no intention of telling anybody at this time." Port got up from behind his mahogany desk and walked to the door, unlocking it. "I want to know _why_ you forged your way into Beacon, why you want to be a hunter so badly that you'd falsify official government documents, potentially landing yourself in a juvenile correctional facility." _That_ certainly gave Jaune pause; he hadn't really considered how serious the consequences would have been. _What they could still be._ The thought hit him like a lightning strike. _If professor Port tells Ozpin, if the authorities get involved, what then? Would dad use his influence and sort it all out? Probably not; he'd be too angry with me, want me to take responsibility. He'd be right, too._

"At first it was about my parents, the Arc name. The men of my family have always been warriors, always protected people, and I just wanted to make my father proud." He looked up at professor Port, expecting a comment of some sort, but was met by nothing but an expectant silence. "But that's just the main reason why I lied. There were also the reasons why anybody wants to be a Hunter; I wanted to help people, I thought it was cool, that it would impress girls, all that stupid immature stuff." Oum, it sounded so _stupid_ when he said it out loud.

"And now?" Port raised one eyebrow as he asked.

"Now?" Jaune asked, slightly non-plussed. It was a simple enough question, so why couldn't he think of an answer? Five seconds… ten… thirty… the silence rolled on. _Come on, think… Remember what your father told you, Jaune. What was it again? Something about shields and swords…_ "You use your shield to protect yourself," Jaune whispered to himself. ""But you use your sword to protect the people precious to you."

"A fine philosophy." Port commented, approval in his voice. "Please, elaborate."

"My friends. If I leave now, if I get thrown out, then my team will be down a member." His eyes narrowed. "They shouldn't have to deal with that."

"But mere minutes ago you were saying they'd be better off without you." Boom. Out of nowhere; no warning. "I'm sorry Jaune, but that doesn't make much sense."

"Yeah, you're right. Probably just an instinctual thing, you know? Like, on a rational level I know I'm just dead weight, but my instincts keep yelling at me to help them." He chuckled nervously, embarrassed by his presumptuous hindbrain.

"You should pay more attention to your instincts; it seems they have more sense than the rest of you." That… wasn't what Jaune expected to hear. "I'd hardly describe you as dead weight, seeing as how it was your first aid skills that saved Nora's life. Without your 'dead weight'," His voice was just dripping with proper, high-class, gentlemanly sarcasm as he said those words. "Your team would be down to two."

"I… hadn't thought about it like that." Wow. Professor Port was _good_ at this. Jaune could practically _feel_ his mind opening up to new possibilities, primarily concerning the idea that he might not be a total loser. "But that was just cleaning up my own mess; if I'd come up with a better plan, I wouldn't have _had_ to administer first aid."

"Oh, for crying out loud. _You're a student!_ " Jaune had never heard Port sound so annoyed; he got the distinct impression that, were he allowed, the grey-haired professor would be boxing his ears. "And for a student, you did a fine job. You thought you were going up against thirty or forty Grimm, instead you encountered a horde of the wretched things. And yet somehow you and your team escape injury until the arrival of a group of human and Faunus assailants. What, did you think it was luck? Or perhaps you really have that much faith in the abilities of your teammates." A note of approval crept into his voice for that last part. "I can assure you; as impressive as your teammates are, they would have been overwhelmed without your formation and attack plan. An attack plan you would have had to come up with on the spot. The fact that you even lasted long enough to be ambushed reflects well on your abilities as a tactician, which is one of the reasons I believe it would be a waste of potential to expel you." Despite himself, Jaune was feeling hopeful; it was looking like he wasn't facing expulsion, and against his expectations, the counselling was making him feel a lot better. "That's why I've decided that your secret is safe with me, just as long as you stop being so hard on yourself."

"I'll try." What surprised Jaune most of all was the realisation that he meant it.

"Okay then, off you go." With that, professor Port got up and walked to the door, unlocking it. "And come back three days from now for our second session; there's four more to go."

"I look forward to it." Once again, he was amazed to find that he meant what he said; he really did look forward to his next counselling session, for some reason. He was still considering this when he almost-but-not-quite-literally bumped into Weiss.

"I've been looking for you, Jaune." _That's probably not good. You must have made her mad._ "I must have checked half the school before I remembered that they were making you go to counselling after what you did to Cardin. Good job, by the way."

"Uh, thanks." _Eep. She's being nice. She probably means to drag it out, really make you suffer._

"How was the counselling anyway? I'll bet professor Port bored you to tears with tales of 'glory'." _This is just plain cruel._

"Actually, it went pretty well; I really feel a lot better about some stuff." _No, you fool! You're falling for her trap. Stop playing by her rules and run already!_ "I… I need to go."

"Could you wait a minute? There's something I wanted to say to you." _She's moving in for the kill; whatever you do, don't say-_

"Sure, I've got a little time." _Hopeless, just hopeless._

"Well, I'd like to start by putting this in the appropriate context; there are no conceivable circumstances by which I would want to date you, or find you in any way attractive." _Ouch, and that was just the opening salvo._

"Well, that was blunt. I'll try not to be offended." Jaune joked, bracing himself for whatever else the Schnee heiress had in store.

"Having said that, I misjudged you, and I want to apologise." _See! A brutal atta- wait, WHAT?_

"N-no big deal," Jaune stammered, dazed by the sudden apology. "According to professor Port, I misjudged myself, so why shouldn't everyone else."

Weiss (barely) smiled before continuing. "You really are too nice for your own good. But back to the matter at hand; while I won't ever be attracted to you, I see no reason not to respect you, and although I'm not interested in dating you, I would not be opposed to a friendship." With that, she held out a slim hardcover volume that, upon inspection, seemed to be about tactics.

"Uh… thanks." He took the book gratefully, seeing it as both a chance to improve as a leader and as proof that Weiss really did want to be his friend. "So, if we're friends now, does that mean I can call you Snow Angel?" He said it in a joking tone, but he certainly didn't expect the tiny grin that formed on Weiss's face.

"I'd advise against it. With your new nickname, people might think we were a couple, and then I'd have to kill you."

"What new nickname?" It was certainly the first _he'd_ heard about a nickname.

Weiss's tiny smile grew a little. "After saving Nora and teaching Cardin a lesson, yang had an idea, so blame it on her."

" _What_ nickname?" Well, at least it couldn't possibly be worse than Vomit Boy or Jauney Boy; in fact, he was rather hoping the word 'boy' would be altogether absent.

"Arc Angel. They're calling you Arc Angel."

Author's Notes: Title drop! Fanfic's over! Nah, I'm just kidding. Stupid old joke I got from cinemasins. Anyway! I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out. I channelled my high school counsellor a bit for professor Port, because that guy was a big help for me. Beyond that? I felt it was appropriate for Yang to have thought up the nickname, I realised how weird it was that both of jaune's nicknames had the word 'boy' in them, and next chapter should have some Nora and Ren stuff in it. Oh, and sorry for the absence of 'glory' from professor Port, it just didn't seem appropriate.

Oh, and to answer your question, Fluddershy, 'povvo' is an insult used by people who, despite being rich, manage to be a real Marxist Utopia (totally classless; yeah, I just did a pun based on socio-political philosophy). It is derived from either poverty or impoverished, and is simply an insulting way to refer to people who aren't wealthy.


	6. Chapter 6: Recovery

Nora's back hurt. Normally when someone's back hurt, it was joint pains in the spine, or a muscular pain, or even bruised bones. But Nora's spine was fine (rhyme intentional and unapologetic). Her back muscles were a little stiff from inactivity, but so was the rest of her, and what bruises she may have acquired had already faded. No, in the case of Nora's back the pain was entirely skin-deep. And that was the problem.

The nurse said it was because of the poison; her body was flushing it out of her system, and it just so happened that it was coming out through her skin. The good news was that she didn't have to go through any vomiting or diarrhoea, but the bad news was that, since the poison had apparently decided that the skin on her back was the best to exit through, lying down was quite painful. And of course, her wounded abdomen meant that she didn't have many choices beyond lying down, so she suffered.

"Is your back hurting again?" Of course, she wasn't being left to suffer alone; Ren hadn't let her side for more than fifteen minutes since she'd been brought into the infirmary. He'd eaten his meals at her bedside and fell asleep lying against her bed. Nora just nodded; she'd become a lot less energetic for fear of reopening her wound and extending the recovery. "Okay, I'll be back in a minute." With that, he got up and walked away.

As Ren headed off to find a nurse, he worried about Nora. He'd known her for years, she was his oldest friend, and he'd never seen her like this. She'd been hurt in the past, but she'd always just bounced back like nothing happened. But this… this was different. She seemed to lack her usual vitality and boundless enthusiasm. Ren just hoped it was only the morphine and residual poison that was causing her shift in behaviour; he missed the child-like glee she showed towards… well, basically everything. He spotted a nurse. "Excuse me, my friend is in the bed back there…"

It took him five minutes to explain everything to the nurse, and the nurse needed another five to check Nora's charts. After that, it took her fifteen minutes to acquire the appropriate ointment and explain how to apply it. Twenty-five minutes. That was twenty-five minutes where Nora had to suffer alone. Ren would never consider himself to be particularly sentimental, but something about that just didn't sit right with him.

Nora smiled when he got back to her bed, which made his pulse speed up slightly for reasons he wasn't sure of. "Okay Nora, I got an ointment that should help. Roll over so I can put it on your back." She nodded, grinning like her old self before rolling onto her stomach and pulling up her shirt. That was nothing unusual; heck, she'd _changed_ in front of him in the past, always facing away, of course.

Ren recalled hearing that if a girl felt comfortable changing in front of you, either they were interested in you romantically, or they basically viewed you how they would another girl . A semi-mature way of putting this would be that if a girl changes in front of a guy, she either thinks of him as a boyfriend or a girl-friend (That hyphen matters). The way that Ren had heard it put, by someone named Chad (naturally) was that if a girl changes in front of you, either she wants you or you've been level-99 friend-zoned (Ren always loathed that term). He gathered that the same went for piggy-backs, which Nora had occasionally talked him into. Ren wasn't sure which prospect scared him more, although if he thought about it, he'd concede that the prospect of Nora seeing him as boyfriend material inspired… well, a nice kind of fear was the best description he could think of.

"Oh, Oum…" Her back was _not_ looking good. Her skin was slick with sweat that had an unusual, slightly oily sheen to it. But that wasn't the worst of it. Her already pale skin was bone white, looking almost… dead. But that wasn't the worst of it. It was her hair. Nora definitely wasn't a hairy girl, but everybody has those tiny hairs, almost too fine to see, that cover their bodies; we're mammals, after all. Every single one of those hairs growing on Nora's back was the same; their follicles, the point where they emerged from her skin, were a ruddy brown colour, and slightly swollen. Each and every follicle was badly inflamed. And _that_ was the worst part.

"Okay Nora, this might sting a little." He smeared a little ointment onto his hand and began to spread it across her back. Given the sheen of sweat that covered her, he'd been expecting feverish heat, but her skin was cold. She felt like she'd slept in front of an open freezer, which worried Ren. He spent a lot of time worrying about Nora. A former friend had once insinuated that being friends with Nora wasn't worth the stress of worrying about her constantly. _Former_ friend.

Nora made a sound. A tiny little squeak of discomfort. "What's wrong?" Ren asked.

"Hurts." She whimpered. Rather uncharacteristically in Ren's opinion. Nora wasn't supposed to whimper. _Well, what are you going to do about it?_ He reached out and began to stroke her hair with the back of his free hand, hoping to comfort her, even if only a little.

"I know it hurts, but the ointment should help. Just hold still for a minute." He was happy to feel her muscles begin to relax under his hands as he applied the ointment. _That's a bit better, she seems to be calming down._ "There we go, all done." She gave a little murmuring grunt of contentment, and then the two lapsed into comfortable silence.

"Um, Ren?" Nora's voice was strangely hesitant. "Your hand…" _Your hand? What about your hand?_ Ren looked down. _Oh… that's embarrassing._ Ren hadn't taken his hand away from Nora's back after applying the ointment. In fact, his hand, apparently independently of his brain, was moving in a slow circle, gently rubbing Nora's back.

"Oh! Sorry." He snatched his hand away quickly, feeling intensely awkward. _Don't let it affect you, don't be thrown off. You are the master of your emotions, you control your feelings. Your heart is calm and serene._ "I… didn't realise I was doing that." _You are calm, you are focused. You are not blushing. You are NOT blushing. It's just kind of warm in here, so you're a little flushed. Why isn't Nora talking? She's never quiet for this long._

"Ren," _That's Nora's serious voice. Bad news._ "Why do you take such good care of me?" Ren didn't know how to answer that. Why did he take care of Nora? Why did he breathe? Why did he use Stormflower, instead of some other weapon? The question just didn't make sense to him, simply because he couldn't imagine ever doing otherwise.

Eventually, he settled on an answer. "Because you're my friend. We've been friends for as long as I can remember, Nora, and I'll always be there for you." Against his better judgement, he laid a reassuring hand on Nora's shoulder. "You'll never have to go through something like this alone, Nora. We'll always get through the hard times together." He knew what was coming next, but for some reason he didn't quite understand, he hoped it didn't come.

"But not together-together." _There it is. Ouch. Wait, ouch? She's been saying that for years, why is it bothering you all of a sudden?_

"Right, not together-together." Ren maintained his smile. "Now, what do you say we watch the video of Jaune beating Cardin again, together but not together-together?" He took Nora's grin to mean yes, and hit 'play'.

Three days and a chemically induced purge (Ren held her hand all through it, which got him vomited on several times) later, Nora had recovered enough to attend non-combat classes, which relieved her, because Ren had refused to leave her alone in the infirmary (she really hated being alone), and she didn't want him falling behind for her sake. They were heading to professor Port's class when Cardin, looking behind him, barrelled right into Nora. She braced herself for a painful fall, as well as the fact that picking herself up off the floor would hurt her abdomen, which was still a ways from healing, before she realised that she was no longer falling.

She opened her eyes, which she had closed in anticipation of the painful fall that had failed to occur, and saw Ren. Somehow, in the scant few moments before impact, he'd caught Nora, cradling her in arms that smelt of green tea, cordite, and regurgitated fruit and chocolate (sometimes it takes more than one wash to get the smell out of your clothes, alright?).

"Are you alright?" Nora heard the hint of concern in his voice, saw the tiny worry-lines on his face, and mentally translated. _Please be alright, please don't be hurt!_

"Wow, Ren! You're _fast_!" Nora giggled a little; in part to reassure Ren that she was okay, and in part because she was in Ren's arms, even if it was to stop her from falling, and that made her feel a little giddy. "You caught me!" She threw her arms around him, giggling all the while (as long as she giggled, Ren wouldn't suspect a thing), and was about to pull herself upright when she heard a strangled grunt. "Oh, hi Cardin!"

Cardin had barrelled into Nora, and nearly caused her a considerable amount of pain, as well as some minor indignity. Cardin had eaten her chocolate, torn her stitches and left a mean note behind. Therefore, Nora rather liked seeing him in his current predicament. Cardin was having some difficulty moving, and some difficulty breathing. This was the case because Ren was pinning him to the wall by his throat. Ren was doing this with his foot. Ren's head swivelled, and he went from looking at Nora with a hint of concern to nailing Cardin with the sort of withering glare that suggested he was something Ren had stepped in, which wasn't too far from the truth.

"Ah yes, hello _Cardin_." It was, Nora reflected, somewhat impressive how Ren managed to project that much loathing into a simple name, managed to make it sound like an insult. "I think it's about time you and I talked." Ren couldn't see her face, but Cardin could, so she treated him to a grin that was just plain _evil_. "You hurt Nora pretty badly. You might think that, after being beaten and scared to the point of urination by Jaune, coerced into giving Nora some fairly lavish gifts, and being introduced to the world of janitorial duties, you were done with that. You were wrong." She almost felt sorry for Cardin; he looked _terrified_. "You should really be more careful, Cardin. If I hadn't caught her, Nora could have gotten hurt. _Again_." A strangled whine of pain suggested that Ren had decided to press harder. "I'll try to put this in terms simple enough for you to understand;" Suddenly, Ren's voice was… dangerous. Nora recognised his tone; eerily calm, even for him, almost robotic. That voice was a warning. "If you ever hurt Nora again, it won't be like last time. It won't be Jaune, it will be me. And unlike Jaune, I won't stop."

After a tense silence, punctuated by Cardin's whimpering, Ren lowered his foot, letting Cardin fall to the floor gasping for air. "Now, what do you have to say to Nora?" Nora hated to admit it, but Cardin was pretty smart when it came to looking out for himself.

"I'm really sorry for running into you Nora, and sorry again for my behaviour earlier. It won't happen again." He _almost_ sounded sincere, too. But Nora was _good_ at hearing those little hidden signals and emotional indicators in a person's voice, even if she often chose to ignore them, and Cardin was afraid, pure and simple. A natural reaction, it had to be said, to Ren when he was in the right sort of mood. But, despite all evidence, Nora could be a realist about _some_ things, and she knew that she was unlikely to get anything better.

"That's okay, Cardin!" She watched as the look of relief spread across his face, chose her moment, and… "I'll break your legs later!" Boom. The look of relief was gone, replaced by blind panic as he turned and ran. Nora might have appeared sweet and innocent, but she had a real mean streak. She noticed that Ren was staring at her. "Come on Ren! Off to class!"

A week passed. A week that Cardin Winchester spent in fear, dreading the day when Nora's recovery was complete, and he would face her vengeance. A week waiting for the impact, the agony of bones breaking, the humiliation of getting just utterly _destroyed_ by a girl half his size. Worst of all, a week spent haunted by the terrible, inescapable _hope_ that maybe nothing would happen, that Nora had been joking, that she'd forget about the threat she'd issued, that she just wouldn't get a chance. False hope.

Cardin was a little early for combat classes, which was nothing out of the ordinary for him; he enjoyed hitting people a great deal more than he enjoyed listening to lectures. He heard footsteps approaching, and turned just in time to see team RWBY walk in; Ruby and Yang chatting, Weiss ignoring them, and Blake shooting him a venomous glare. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, and turned away back to his team.

More footsteps. He turned. Miss Goodwitch. He relaxed. More footsteps. Team JNPR. Cardin did _not_ like the look on Nora's face. She'd been attending combat classes since she'd recovered enough to leave the infirmary, she just hadn't been participating. The logic had been that even if she couldn't fight, she could watch and learn and anyway, what was she meant to do while the rest of her team was attending the combat classes? But previously, she'd ignored him completely, so the fact that she was now giving him one of the most disturbing grins he'd ever seen was probably a bad sign.

"Class is in session, children." Miss Goodwitch's voice cut through Cardin's fearful contemplation. "Miss Valkyrie, as you've been given a clean bill of health, you will be fighting first." Cardin thought he saw a tiny, cruel smile flicker across the blonde teacher's usually stern face, but it was gone too fast for him to be sure. "Mister Winchester, would you please step into the arena? You will be Miss Valkyrie's sparring partner." Cardin was in a bad situation; he really didn't want to step into the ring with Nora, but he knew that he couldn't afford to appear scared of a girl who was so much smaller than him.

He shuffled into the arena, turned to face Nora, and, seeing the look on her face, shifted into an uncharacteristically defensive stance. _Okay, right foot back, raise mace to block, and brace. You got this, you got this…_ WHAM! _Okay, maybe not._ Cardin picked himself off the floor and fell back into the defensive stance. WHAM! _Okay, time to try something new. You'd best go on the offensive man; just move fast, duck and weave, and hit her as hard as you can._ Cardin came up running, charging straight at Nora and screaming at the top of his lungs. WHAM! _Okay, this time try to get her from the side._ He ran in a wide, curving path, hoping to loop around and catch her in the flank. BOOM! BOOM! _Right, the grenade launcher. Okay then, rush her, but at the last minute, nail her with a blast._

He ran forward, mace drawn back for a swing. He saw Nora preparing to swing at him, grinned, and brought the head of his mace down on the ground, activating it. _Let's see the little pixie dodge that._ She did. She leapt over the line of explosions, raised her hammer and… "Oh…" WHAM! _Okay, maybe if you…_ WHAM! _But what about…_ WHAM! _Then you should probably…_ WHAM! _Okay, you know what? Your Aura can stand up to one more hit, and then you'll be out. Just take it like a man and get this over with._ Cardin stood up, squared his shoulders, and prepared for the final blow. WHA-BOOM!

Cardin had been right; his Aura had been up to one more hammer blow. But he'd forgotten two things. One; Magnhild can use grenades in its hammer form, leading to an explosively augmented strike. Two; Nora had said that she planned to break his legs, and What Nora said she'd do, Nora did. Pain, bleeding, pain, light burns, pain, his pants were shredded, pain, someone was screaming, pain, it was him, pain, his legs were bent wrong, pain, pain. A shadow fell over him. Nora. Smiling. A smile only he could see. She winked at him, and burst into tears. Huge, wracking sobs. Crocodile tears. "I'm s-s-so sorry! I d-didn't want to hurt you!" Nora was a good actor, he had to admit. _Okay so; re-evaluating Team JNPR. Jaune scared you so bad that you wet yourself, Nora broke your legs, and Ren choked you with his foot and threatened your life. Pyrrha is the only one left, and can beat your whole team. Find new targets now._

Author's notes: Man, I almost feel sorry for Cardin! Yeah he's a jerk, but I just send him beating after beating! Incidentally, that little altercation with Ren doesn't count towards the promised three painful and humiliating losses; it was da foot, not defeat. Speaking of which, I'm _proud_ of that scene; the mental image of Ren with Nora in his arms and Cardin on his foot is just such a great mix of awesome and sweet! And this chapter had no shortage of sweet, at least by my standards. I mean, honestly; I think I got diabetes writing the hospital scene, I'll be kicked out of the Jaded Cynics' Association if they find out. Oh, and the description of Nora's rash is based, at least in part, off of a nasty skin irritation I suffered a few months back, caused by the flu of all things. Got to say, I enjoyed writing that supremely awkward little moment for Ren, in case you couldn't tell. Which is why the next chapter, which is mostly going to be fluff to give everyone who needs it a little push in the right direction (and lavishly detailed descriptions of food, because reasons), is going to have some real gold in terms of awkward moments. They say to write what you know, after all.


	7. Chapter 7: Celebration

After Nora escaped with a stern warning for "accidentally" breaking Cardin's legs, the rest of the day passed uneventfully. That is, until the end of class, when suddenly Ren made a beeline for the kitchen. It had been surprisingly easy to get permission for his little plan; Nora had been on a slew of different medications up until she was given a completely clean bill of health, and some of those medications had come with dietary restrictions. Ren had wanted to celebrate Nora's recovery by cooking up her favourite food, and Ozpin had given him free reign to use the cafeteria kitchen.

When Jaune walked in, Ren was mixing pork and beef mince by hand, not a pleasant job. "Hey, do you want some help?"

Ren looked a tiny bit relieved. "Thanks, could you cut, peel and core those apples? Quarters should be fine." He gestured over to a bag of green apples before getting back to work.

"No problem, so what are we making?" Jaune asked as he began to prep the apples with practiced ease.

"Beef and pork meatballs in cream with pasta, and an apple rhubarb and strawberry crumble for dessert." Ren replied, adding the brunoised onion and the herbs to the mix before rolling it into balls. A couple of minutes later, Pyrrha walked in.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked brightly. "I should probably warn you though; I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to cooking."

"Okay then, could you crush the hazelnuts for the crumble topping?" He nodded towards a bag of nuts. "Those things are a pain to deal with. I once tried to crush them with a can of beans when I couldn't find anything better to use, and the can lost."

Pyrrha nodded and stationed herself next to Jaune, a little closer than was necessary in Ren's opinion, although he decided against passing comment, before proceeding to hammer away at the hazelnuts.

After a moment, Jaune set aside the last of the apples, peeled cored and cut, and moved on to the strawberries. Pyrrha looked surprised. "You certainly cut those quickly." She commented, leaving the question unspoken.

"Yeah, well I come from a big family," Jaune replied looking sheepish. "In a house with eight kids, either everyone learns to cook, or nobody eats." With that, he turned back to cutting the strawberries with almost surgical precision, and thus completely missed the look Pyrrha gave him. Ren however, saw it perfectly clearly, and translated it as meaning that Pyrrha's crush had been heightened ever so slightly by Jaune's culinary prowess. Ren didn't smile knowingly to himself, but he thought about it.

They left the crumble in the oven to keep it nice and hot while the meatballs were being eaten. And eaten they were; savoury, filling and rich (a lot richer than Ren was used to), they were devoured in short order with audible signs of appreciation (Nora ate twice as much and was twice as loud as anybody else). But of course, as much as he enjoyed the meal (and seeing Nora enjoy it), that was nothing compared to the reactions elicited by dessert.

"My favourite! Ren, you're the best friend in the world!" Her voice was more like a modulated squeal of joy than actual language as she pulled him into a patented Nora Valkyrie bone-crushing hug. _Ah, the classic dilemma; you don't want the hug to end (although you'll never let the others know that), but you need to breathe. So, don't pass comment yet, wait for the little dots in your vision that mean you're about to pass out and…_

"Uh, Nora?" Ren wheezed. "I kind of need to breathe." _Okay, next chance I get, I'm going to look up ways to increase my lung capacity._

"Oops!" Nora chirped as she released him. Ren couldn't help but smile; she was just so… so Nora. That was really the only way to describe her, he reflected as he reached out and tousled her hair. There was no one word that could sum up her unique blend of innocence, energy and boundless capacity for violence. To try and compress the essence of the girl sitting next to him, grinning hugely with a mouthful of fruit and custard (crumble without custard is a sin). He was pulled from his reverie by a camera flash. A profoundly unwelcome camera flash.

He turned and saw Pyrrha holding up her scroll while Jaune stared, wide-eyed and grinning. "That," Jaune said. "Was adorable." Ren's eyes narrowed slightly, but Jaune seemed to be sincere. "Pyrrha, please tell me you got that." The flame-haired hoplite responded with a grin, a thumbs-up, and the revelation of the picture she'd taken.

"I have to say," She intoned smugly. "I really think I got your good side, Ren." _Okay, credit where credit's due; that's a pretty good picture._ The moon shone through the window, perfectly framing the two figures in the centre of the screen. There was Ren, a tiny smile on his face, his hand on Nora's head. And there was Nora, custard dribbling down her chin, with a grin that was seriously in danger of removing the top of her head. It was, in a word; cute. It was sweet, it was adorable, it was sure to warm even the coldest heart.

"Delete that picture. Now." Ren kept his voice calm and steady, hiding the embarrassment he felt.

"Pyrrha, as team leader, I'm ordering you not to delete that picture!" Jaune managed to keep a straight face for around six seconds before collapsing into uproarious laughter. "But seriously, keep that photo."

Ren narrowed his eyes. "Wow, I can't believe it. Stabbed in the back." _That's it; pretend to be irritated, keep a grim expression, don't laugh, don't crack a smile._

"Sorry Ren, our leader has spoken." Pyrrha said, her evil little grin making it clear that she was nothing like sorry. "Besides, this picture is just too cute to destroy. In fact," She said, her already wicked grin growing the tiniest bit crueller, mostly around the eyes. "It's _so_ cute that I think maybe we should send it to team RWBY."

"Great idea Pyrrha!" Jaune chimed in, a look of unfamiliar malice on his face. "We _should_ send it to them, perhaps with a caption. It could say…" He trailed off.

" _Not together-together_?" Pyrrha suggested, looking unbelievably smug while she did.

"Another great idea! Man, you are on a roll tonight!"Jaune was clearly enjoying the novelty of being the one teasing, rather than the target. Jaune was so caught up in teasing Ren that he didn't notice Pyrrha's tiny smile at his complement, but Ren noticed it, and was willing to bet that Nora noticed it too. Ren sneaked a sidelong glance at his oldest friend. On second thought, maybe she hadn't noticed, seeing as how she was staring wide-eyed at the picture on Pyrrha's scroll.

"So cute…" Nora whispered, her voice barely more than a breath. _That's not good._ "Pyrrha, you _need_ to give me a copy of that! And show it to Ruby, and Yang, and…"

"Nora, no. If they spread that picture around, people will think we're together-together." Ren warned, trying to snap Nora out of the gleeful frenzy she'd worked herself into.

"What?" A look of horror spread across Nora's face. _Wow. That was… not beneficial to your ego. I mean, come on. The look of horror was a bit much. Wait, is she blushing?_ "That's crazy! Not that you're not handsome Ren, because you are, and smart and nice but we've been friends for so long, it'd be weird, right?" _There it is. Actually, why would it be weird? Because you've known each other for so long?_

"Yeah, it'd be weird." _So why doesn't it seem weird? Quick, change the subject._ "So, Jaune, Pyrrha; how can I stop you from sharing that picture with team RWBY?" Ren inquired, his voice calm as ever.

Jaune turned to face Pyrrha, his mind blank. What _would_ he make his teammate do? He didn't want to embarrass him too much; these were some of his only friends, and he wasn't about to start mistreating them. Suddenly, Pyrrha's face lit up, and he knew that she had an idea. Upon being prompted, she leaned in and whispered her plan into his ear. _Okay Jaune, take it easy. Keep calm, don't blush. Yes, there is a very attractive young lady in alarmingly close proximity, but you won't blush, just focus on what she's saying… wow, that's actually perfect._

"Okay Ren, tell us why you have that pink streak in your hair." Ren looked surprised, then relieved. Clearly, he'd been expecting much worse.

"If you must know, a few years back, Nora dyed my hair pink, 'to match my eyes'. While I was washing it out, I decided that I could live with one coloured streak if it would make Nora happy and stop her from trying to re-dye my hair." There was a pause. Jaune and Pyrhha looked at each other. _And commence teasing in 3… 2… 1…_

"Wow," Jaune said, sounding almost impressed. "Not even together-together and you're totally whipped. That's got to be some kind of record."

"Well I think it's very sweet of you, Ren." Pyrrha's voice was sincere, but Jaune noticed the spark of mischief in her eyes. "You'd better keep him close, Nora. If you're not careful, some other girl's going to snatch him up!" Jaune very nearly applauded; that was some top-quality teasing. It started off seemingly benign, which led them to lower their guards, but then it ended strong, throwing both Ren and Nora off-balance for a second. Even better, it brought up their thus far unacknowledged feelings, which both Pyrrha and Jaune were well aware of. Pyrrha in particular seemed adamant that they should be made to confront their feelings for each other, although Jaune definitely agreed with her.

"Yeah Nora," He chuckled. "I'd say it's time to stop playing around and upgrade to together-together. Hurry, before someone else beats you to it!" _Easy there Jaune, don't make it too obvious._

Suddenly, Ren had the merest suggestion of a devious grin on his face. "Well, while we're on the subject; Jaune, do you have your eye on anyone new?" That was one thing Jaune hated about Ren; he had a habit of catching people off guard. _Does he know? No, he couldn't. You've been careful, kept it hidden. Relax, it's just a shot in the dark. He doesn't know anything._

Jaune kept his voice steady, purged it of any trace of panic "No, not really." _Yes, absolutely._ "I've been a bit busy training, so I haven't really had time for that sort of thing." _Head over heels, utterly hopeless._ "Sorry to disappoint, but I got nothing." _Oh no, she's looking right at you! Don't look at her eyes, if you do you'll start to stare for sure. Don't look at her hair either, same problem. No, not THERE either, damn hormones. OR there… okay, you know what? Just give her a grin and turn away, try not to focus on her._ Jaune quickly gave Pyrrha a nervous grin before turning back to face Ren. "Guess the legendary Arc family charm's going to spend a little time on the shelf."

"Well maybe you should think things through this time, really work out what you want." Pyrrha suggested, giving Jaune a reassuring little smile that made his spine tingle.

"Well…" _Careful, man… Don't mess up here._ "I kind of have a thing for strong girls, girls who can really fight." He looked around to see a trio of raised eyebrows, prompting him to continue before they came to some… interesting conclusions. "It's nothing weird, I just feel like dating a really tough girl would be, well, less stressful." They kept staring, although the eyebrows were down.

"Less… stressful?" Pyrrha asked, clearly confused.

"Well, it's kind of like with my sisters… that came out wrong." _Big time._ "What I mean is, I worry about my sisters, well, some of my sisters." He sighed before continuing. "We might be a warrior family, but there's limits, you know? Marie's only four, you can't expect her to fight. And I worry about her. Just like I worry about Suzy and Cassy. They can't fight, they're too young, and it's not like I could do much to protect them, and, well…" He trailed off, feeling intensely awkward.

"You don't know if you could handle that stress if it were your girlfriend." Pyrrha finished for him, her voice filled with understanding. "So you want to find a girl who can take care of herself." He nodded gratefully.

"I mean family is one thing, but a girlfriend? Someone I'm sharing my heart and soul with? I'm pretty sure my life would just be one big panic attack." _Which would be different to your life now in… what way?_ "I mean, I worry enough, I even worry about the people who I _know_ can take care of themselves! I worry about all of my sisters, even though Amy's tough as nails, I worry about my parents, _my parents._ My dad once bit a Beowolf's throat out, and my mom can bench a _car_ , and I worry about them." He saw a bemused expression on Nora's face, while Ren's was carefully blank, and Pyrrha's… he wasn't sure what emotion her face conveyed. "Not to mention team RWBY, the teachers, heck, even Cardin and his pack of jerks!" He grew quiet. "And you guys; I worry about you guys a lot. Not that I think you're weak or anything," He hastily added. "It's just that, well, you guys are important to me." He looked down and said in a small voice, "I never really had many friends before you guys."

For a few seconds, there was silence, then- WHAM! Nora tackle-hugged him. "N-nora… ribs… creaking… vision… blurry. Need… oxygen."

"What you _need_ , is a hug!" Nora replied, sounding adamant, and what could he say to that? After a few seconds of hugging, Jaune was able to free himself, and conversation resumed.

"So, strong women, huh?" Ren asked, a hint of amusement playing across his features.

"Hehe, yeah," Jaune rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Of course, that doesn't narrow it down much when I'm surrounded by Huntresses. Kind of hit the jackpot in that regard."

Ren smirked slightly. "Pervert." He deadpanned leading to explosive laughter at Jaune's expense.

They talked, joked and laughed for a couple of hours before Nora began to tire. After a particularly loud yawn, Ren encouraged her to go to bed. "But I'm not tired!" She protested, her drooping eyelids robbing her of any credibility.

"Nora…" Ren's voice was stern.

"Okay, okay, I'll go get my west." Nora grumbled, before a devious grin spread across her face. "But first…" She leaned in close to Ren and, without warning or preamble, planted a kiss on his cheek. Ren's expression was… blank. Not his usual stoic, controlled blankness, rather the blankness that reflects a mind that has shut down momentarily. Nora then tapped him lightly on the nose with her index finger. "Boop."With that, she skipped merrily out of the room.

 _Meanwhile, a young man, twenty years of age, was working down at the docks. He was a slim fellow with a decent amount of wiry muscle and brown hair. His face was pleasant enough; good cheekbones, decent chin, unexceptional jawline, even if he was a bit pale. His eyes were a bit unnerving though; a pleasant blue-grey colour, eyebrows that were a bit thicker and more arched than would be ideal, but acceptable. Unfortunately, some quirk of genetics had rendered the skin around his eyes far darker than the rest of his face, leading to a sunken-eyed effect that was, to be honest, a little creepy. "Oh, how about that; the SlothFlower is finally getting loaded up. That ship was in the dock so long I didn't think it was ever sailing." He briefly consulted the shipping manifests. "Let's see, and it is loaded with… cotton wool, glucose solution, and a small shipment of Gouda." He shrugged. "Huh. A ship filled with fluff, sugar and a little bit of cheese. Weird."_

Ten seconds passed. Ren didn't move, his face remained blank. Thirty seconds, no change. Surelyhe must have snapped out of it after a minute, right? Nope. "Uh… Ren? You okay?" Jaune's questioning seemed to do the trick.

"Damn it." Ren's voice came out as a whisper. He got up and shuffled out the door in a daze, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha in silence.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Pyrrha asked, her voice heavy with concern.

"I'm… I'm not sure." Jaune replied, worry written across his face. "He seemed pretty shaken up…" He trailed off.

"Maybe one of us should talk to him…" Pyrrha hinted.

"On it; this calls for awkward guy talk." Jaune replied, getting up and heading for the door. When he caught up to Ren, the normally stoic boy was talking to himself.

"Why did this have to happen? Why now?" Ren slammed his fist against the wall. "I can't deal with this."

"Not the most traditional reaction to a kiss from a pretty girl." Jaune chuckled, hoping that humour would defuse the situation slightly. "Care to explain?"

Ren scowled ever so slightly. "Nora and I are just friends, you know that."

Jaune nodded his assent. "Yeah, sure. 'Not together-together', I know."

Ren sighed. "As such, certain things are off-limits."

 _Off-limits? What the heck is he talking about?_ "Kind of lost me there, buddy."

Ren rolled his eyes in frustration. "Certain _feelings_."

That was enough of a hint. "Oh. Uh… wow. I am seriously out of my depth here."

Ren nodded glumly. "And I'd been doing well. I mean, I'm seventeen. _Seventeen._ I have known Nora for my entire life, and yet I managed to avoid developing feelings for her until now. Honestly, I'm amazed I lasted this long."

"One question." Jaune piped up.

"Go ahead." Ren replied.

"Why is it bad if you have feelings for her?" _Seriously._

Ren had an answer pre-loaded. "My training. The martial arts training I've received places a focus on tranquillity and emotional control. Developing feelings for Nora… complicates things. Feelings of affection are especially difficult to control, especially when concealed."

"So, uh, why conceal them?"Jaune asked, legitimately confused.

Ren's mouth opened, but no sound came out. After a few seconds of contemplation, he replied. "Rejection would make things awkward between me and Nora."

"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't reject you." Jaune replied. "And even if she did, I think she'd be cool about it. It wouldn't be awkward unless you made it awkward."

Ren raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "When did you become an expert on girls?" He asked, a hint of scorn in his voice.

"On girls?" Jaune laughed. "Not a chance, but I _am_ Beacon's resident expert in awkwardness."

Ren shrugged slightly in acknowledgement; Jaune definitely had experience in that regard. "Not to mention our expert in rejection." He joked.

Jaune clutched at his chest as if wounded. "Oh, the pain! Such cruelty from my own teammate!" He grinned to himself when he saw his theatrics raise a smirk from Ren.

"It's just not fair, you know?" Ren said, looking defeated.

"Oh, I know." Jaune replied, giving Ren a look of understanding. "The universe throws a cute, quirky redhead your way, but she's off-limits." He grinned. "Face it Ren; we never stood a chance."

Author's notes: Oh god! The fluff! Help me, I'm drowning in fluff! Anyway, I'd better address the elephant in the room; Nora's semblance. It is bioelectricity. She can absorb electric shocks. Shocks like the one that stunned her in the first chapter, leading to her injury. I'll give you guys a few options. One, it was some sort of semblance-generated electricity, impossible to absorb. Two, Nora's Aura was completely exhausted, making her incapable of using her semblance. Three, you guys can just pretend that the cable heated up instead of carrying an electric charge,, and Nora was disoriented by the pain. In case you were wondering, the dinner is Swedish meatballs. The recipe typically calls for veal rather than beef, but beef is cheaper, and does the job. And that combination of fillings for a crumble is delicious. So… Ren likes Nora, and would not be opposed to being 'together-together'. Yeah, there's not much I can say about this one. Wait! I almost forgot! That paragraph in italics? The fourth-wall breaking bit about ships? The dockhand in that is a fairly accurate description of me, so that's a thing. As always, feel free to review.


	8. Chapter 8: The family

Pyrrha woke up early. She had for a few months. It was a habit she had acquired after waking early one morning and making a couple of discoveries. One, Jaune was an early riser, waking up before the rest of his team, and two, he sung in the shower. Not exactly an uncommon habit, but this wasn't regular singing in the shower. No, when Jaune sang in the shower, he gave it his all; belting out power-ballads, crooning love songs, filling every word with as much emotion as he could cram into it. That morning, he seemed to be in a pop-punk mood; sarcastic lyrics sung badly to guitars, that sort of thing.

He'd already enticed a theoretical (or in this case, secret) listener to come out and play, and had informed the world that he was, in fact, pretty fly (for a white guy), and was now in the middle of his third (and, if experience was anything to go by, final) song.

 _"_ _And though you_ _ **hear me**_ _, I don't think that you relate/ my will is_ _ **something**_ _that you can't confiscate/ and so_ _ **forgive me**_ _, but I won't be frustrated by destruction in your eyes as you're staring at the sun/ whoaheyoha, as you're staring at the sun…"_

He was actually pretty good, she reflected. And in a good mood, based on his choice of music. She'd learned the code within a couple of weeks of the initial discovery; metal meant he was angry, upbeat pop and party rock meant he was happy, alternative meant he was stressed out, and emo meant he was unhappy. Pop-punk, like he was currently singing, meant that he was excited. Understandable; she was pretty excited herself. A few days had passed since Nora's celebratory dinner and the event which Ren had avoided making any mention of, and it was the day Jaune had anticipated with alternating waves of excitement and dread; the day that his parents visited.

 _"_ _As you're staring at the sun…_ _ **As you're staring at the sun!**_ _"_

That sounded like it was probably the end of the song, which meant Pyrhha had a couple of minutes to make it look like she hadn't been listening to Jaune sing in the shower because _yikes_.She lay back down and pulled the covers up before closing her eyes; she'd pretend to wake up after she heard the bathroom door open. She was just about to open her eyes when…

"Morning, Pyrrha." _He knows._ Pyrrha's eyes shot open, her heart began to race.

"Jaune! You… you woke me up." _Right, lie. Don't let him know! Jaune's trusting, so this'll work, right?_

A tiny grin of amusement crept onto Jaune's face as he shook his head. "No I didn't," He said matter-of-factly. "You were already awake."

 _How? How could he possibly know? This is bad._ "W-what makes you say that?"

His face split into a grin. "Your hair!" He crowed triumphantly. "It looks too good."

Pyrrha felt her heartrate increase slightly. _Why, oh why did his answer have to sound like a compliment? As if this wasn't awkward enough._ "My hair… looks too good?"

Jaune nodded. "No bed-head. You must tidy it up a little when you wake upor something, cause a few weeks ago, you suddenly started 'waking up' with much neater hair." Pyrrha blushed; she hadn't even noticed that she'd been smoothing out her hair, she must have just been doing it without thinking.

"Plus there's the fact that you suddenly started 'waking up' _just_ as I got out of the shower. Kind of a giveaway." There was a moment of silence. "Sooo…What gives?"

Pyrrha flushed slightly. "Well, you see, I've been… listening to you sing." Jaune looked baffled. "You're pretty good."

Jaune's expression was one of relief. "Is _that_ all?" He asked incredulously. "I was worried that something was wrong!" He laughed for a few seconds. "Thanks for the compliment, by the way."

Pyrrha let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding in; he didn't think it was weird. _That's nice, but the million-Lien question is; WHY doesn't he think it's weird? What kind of madness is he used to? What must his family be like to desensitize him like that? And speaking of his family, will they like me? Oum, please let them like me._

"Well, today's the day." Jaune said, sounding… excited? Nervous? It was honestly getting hard to tell. "My parents are visiting." Stating the obvious; not a good sign. "They'll love you guys," Jaune commented. "Especially you." Pyrrha blushed faintly at the compliment. "I just hope they're happy with my progress."

Looking at Jaune's face, Pyrrha found she could actually _see_ the doubt spreading through his mind. _There's the fear of disappointing his parents, the fear of letting us and the rest of his friends down is in the eyes, fear of expulsion in the furrowed brow…_ "Jaune, you've improved a lot, I'm sure they'll be impressed." His face lit up a little at that; it always amazed her how much joy he took in compliments, almost like a five-year-old.

"Thanks, Pyrrha," Jaune said, suddenly calm. "That really helped." He chuckled. "What would I do without you?" There was nothing _slight_ about the blush that now graced Pyrrha's features. _Easy girl, don't make it weird._

"Oh, I'm sure you'd manage." She replied, trying to sound casual.

"Find someone else to beg for help, you mean." There he went again, talking himself down. He'd been better about it since his counselling sessions with Professor Port, but the fact still remained that he seemed incapable of going easy on himself.

"If I recall correctly, you didn't do much begging." Pyrrha replied, a slight smirk on her face. "In fact, I seem to recall you refusing help when I offered it."

"Hehe, yeah…" Jaune murmured nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "I was kind of an idiot wasn't I?"

She smiled. "A little." _Monumentally so._

A few hours passed, and team JNPR were waiting for Jaune's parents. Ren was leaning against the wall, studiously ignoring-but not really ignoring Nora's constant chatter, which had, as always, gone somewhere weird (how would you even get a Beowolf into a miniskirt? And why would you want to?). Pyrrha was feeling nervous (how exactly does one go about meeting the parents of the guy they like?), and Jaune was practically bouncing off the walls; a bundle of excitement and nervous energy. "Where are they? The Airship was meant to be here by now."

Ren rolled his eyes, Nora giggled. "Jaune, it's only running two minutes late. That's not even long enough to count as a delay." Ren's voice was, as always, calm and reasonable.

"Okay, you're right, I need to relax, and just wait a few more minutes… Why aren't they here yet?" Ren shook his head as Pyrrha sighed; it had been a rough wait.

After another three minutes of Jaune's fussing, the airship finally pulled into the dock. The doors opened, the ramps lowered, and Jaune was very nearly bowled over by a small streak of blonde.

"JAUNE!" Squealed the blonde streak, now revealed to be a little girl who was hugging Jaune enthusiastically. She was almost comically cute, with blue eyes, flare cut hair and freckles. She wore a plain blue dress that went down to her knees, with frilly pink socks and yellow shoes. With rainbows on the sides. No, really.

"Marie? Mom and dad didn't tell me you were coming." Jaune looked surprised, but pleasantly so. "Guys, this is my little sister, Marie." As he said this, a man and a woman, moving at a more reasonable pace than Marie had, but still briskly, walked up to him.

"Jaune!" The man who Pyrrha took to be Jaune's father exclaimed. "So good to see you!" He looked… well, Pyrrha took his appearance as evidence that Jaune would age well. He was tall, broad shouldered, and well-muscled. He had a strong jawline, and sharp cheekbones. His hair was close-cropped and blonde, with a hint of grey coming in from the temples, and his eyes were a hard, flinty grey. He wore black slacks, boots, and a white button-up shirt and suspenders. His grin broadened as he shook Jaune's hand, making a small vertical scar on his chin more noticeable. "Easy there! You grip much tighter, you're liable to break my hand."

"Oh, you do like to make a fuss." This comment came from the woman who could have only been Jaune's mother. She was only slightly shorter than Jaune's father, with a slim, but still quite obviously strong, build. She had fine cheekbones, blue eyes and long brown hair. She wore a simple grey dress with no sleeves, which served to show off arms that were impressively toned given the fact that she appeared to be in her mid-forties. "Honestly, who'd ever believe you were a hunter to hear you?"

"The boy's gotten stronger, that's all I'm saying!" He replied, a look of mock offense on his face.

"Thanks dad, I've been training like crazy." Jaune was practically beaming at the compliment as his mother pulled him in for a hug.

"That's what I like to hear!" His father exclaimed. "Now, how about you introduce us to your friends?"

"I wanna meet your friends Jaune!" Marie squealed excitedly, tugging at his sleeve.

"Okay, okay!" Jaune chuckled as he ruffled her hair. "Let's go introduce you." With that, he took his little sister's hand and led her to the rest of team JNPR. "This is Pyrrha, she's helped me a lot since I got here."

Pyrrha smiled and held out a hand for Marie to shake. "Nice to meet you."

Marie's eyes were so wide, Pyrrha was afraid they might pop out of her skull. "She's the pretty girl from the cereal!" She squealed, tugging on her brother's sleeve. Jaune, Jaune! Are you gonna marry the pretty cereal girl?" It was, Pyrrha reflected, amazing how small children could, entirely by accident, string together the single most embarrassing series of words possible in a situation. She turned around and looked pleadingly at Ren and Nora. Ren had a smirk on his face, and Nora was laughing so hard she was bent double. _Well, they won't be helping. Oum, why did this have to happen?_

"So you're the ever-praised Pyrrha." Jaune's father said, stepping in and breaking the awkward silence. "Thank you for taking such good care of my son." He extended his hand and grinned warmly.

"It was a pleasure, really. Jaune has been a great friend to me, and he has a lot of potential, Mr. Arc." Pyrrha replied, shaking his hand firmly. Her blush was fading, despite her being faced with a little over six feet of muscle and charm.

"Oh, no need to be so formal. All that 'Mr.' nonsense makes me feel so _old_. Call me Lucien, I insist." He might have seemed a little creepy at this point; like a dirty old man flirting with a teenager, if it weren't for his smile. His cheesy, avuncular, constant threat of a dad-joke smile. It was a lot like Jaune's honestly; open, honest and trustworthy. The difference was that Jaune's was nervous, while Lucien's was completely confident. In short, it was not at all the smile of a man who would flirt with teenagers, especially not when he had a wife.

"Well, Lucien, as I was saying, Jaune's an excellent tactician, and he's improved a lot when it comes to combat." Jaune blushed slightly.

"I haven't improved _that_ much." Jaune protested, clearly embarrassed by her praise.

"Team CRDL might disagree with you on that." Pyrrha countered, trying to sound smug and encouraging at the same time. Jaune had been matched against the other members of Team CRDL during combat classes over the last few days, with surprising results.

"Yeah, but I only beat Russel because he missed with that crazy spinning move and bounced off the wall, Sky flinched at the right time for me to get under his guard, and Dove lost his footing." Jaune replied, making Pyrrha positively _cringe_ at his refusal to acknowledge his victories.

"And Cardin?" Pyrrha enquired, genuinely curious to see exactly how Jaune planned to belittle that particular win.

"… I was _really_ angry." Jaune replied after a moment's hesitation, and Pyrrha couldn't really argue with that. But from the looks of it, his father _could_ argue with that, and had every intention of doing so.

"How many times do I need to say it, Jaune? If you won the fight, you won the fight." He seemed annoyed, but also eager to encourage, and pleased to hear that his son had some victories under his belt. "If your opponent made some damn fool mistake, that's their problem, not yours. You shouldn't count on them slipping up, but a warrior is always looking for opportunities."

"I swear, you're always looking for an audience, dear." Jaune's mother quipped. "Stop lecturing the boy, I want to meet his other friends!" Taking this as his cue, Ren stepped forward.

"Hello, Mrs. Arc, my name is Ren; it's a pleasure to meet you." Ren bowed his head slightly and held out his hand. "I'll admit that I had my doubts about Jaune at first…"

"Gee, thanks!" Jaune interrupted sarcastically.

"…But honestly, there's nobody else I'd rather have as team leader." Pyrrha was surprised; that was fairly emotional by Ren's standards. She could see that Jaune's mouth was hanging open; clearly he hadn't expected that sort of praise.

"Well, it sounds like my son's made quite an impression. Would you mind telling me what he's done to impress you so much?" Jaune's mother asked, a smile on her face. Ren opened his mouth to reply, when…

"Hey, Arc Angel!" Yang called out, the rest of Team RWBY trailing behind her. "You weren't planning on going without introducing us to your parents, were you?" She had a cheeky grin. Never a good sign. "I'm hurt, truly hurt." Jaune rolled his eyes, conveying exactly how _hurt_ he thought Yang was.

"Mom, dad, this is my friend Yang, she's part of Team RWBY." Pyrrha felt sorry for Jaune, she really did.

"Nice to meet you," Jaune's mother said politely, but with an odd smile on her face. "And, I have to say, that little pet name? Arc Angel? Very sweet. How long have you two been seeing each other, if you don't mind me asking?" Silence.

Jaune was in hell. A lot of worst-case scenarios had gone through his head while he was waiting for his parents. Maybe they wouldn't be happy with the progress he'd made. Maybe Nora would say something to baffle and alarm them. He wondered why the thought of his mother enquiring about his love life and coming to the conclusion that he was dating someone he wasn't even interested in romantically had never crossed his mind. Probably self-preservation.

Luckily, Yang recovered before him. "Me? And Jaune? _Dating_?" She began to laugh. And laugh. Jaune tried not to feel insulted. _Tried_. "Hahaha…" She stopped laughing when she saw the look Jaune's mother had on her face.

"Something funny?" She asked dryly, one eyebrow raised.

Yang looked nervous. Jaune could relate. His mom was usually really nice, but she could be _scary_. "Soory for laughing, but trust me; the idea of your son dating me is a laugh." Jaune flinched. _That… was poorly phrased. She's probably going to regret it._

"Oh? So he's beneath you? Not worth your time? Is that what you're trying to say, little miss hairspray?" She was something of a mama bear at times.

If Yang was scared, she did a good job of hiding it. "Trust me, you wouldn't _want_ me dating your son if you knew me." She smirked. "Mothers usually don't. Nothing wrong with Jaune, but he's not my type." She grinned wickedly. "Besides, your baby's spoken for, even if he doesn't know it." Jaune scowled; he really _hated_ being teased about his numerous public failures when it came to women. Surprisingly enough, it was Weiss who came to the rescue.

"Arc Angel is just a nickname Jaune was given a while ago." She said, sparing Jaune more of Yang's veiled mockery. "There's actually a mildly interesting story behind it."

"And you are?" Jaune's mother enquired, her earlier annoyance nowhere to be seen.

"Weiss Schnee, pleased to meet you." Weiss replied politely.

"And this story?" Jaune's father cut in, looking curious.

"Well, I only know the first half second hand, so I might not be the best person to tell you." Weiss explained. "That would be…"

"NORA!" Nora seemed to just… appear between Weiss and Jaune's father without covering the intervening distance. Marie giggled at her outburst; Jaune suspected that Nora probably got along well with small children. "Jaune's the best leader ever!" And with that exclamation, she dove right into an energetic retelling of the events leading to Jaune's nickname, with Ren interjecting to clarify, add in details she missed (her memory of a lot of it being clouded by blood loss or morphine), and correct her when she became a little too… hyperbolic.

"Well," Jaune's father began. "I have to say son, I'm impressed." He smiled warmly. "It sounds to me like leadership suits you. You've done a great job looking after your team, and I'm proud of you."

"But it's my fault she got hurt in the first place." Jaune protested. "If I'd come up with a better plan she would have been fine." WHAP! Jaune's head jerked forward slightly as someone's hand connected, open palmed, with his skull from behind. He turned around, only to see Ren looking at him disapprovingly.

"Stop blaming yourself." Ren intoned flatly. "We were working with bad intel, we'd been ambushed, and we were exhausted. You did the best you could, but there was no way we were all getting out of that unharmed."

"Right!" Jaune's father agreed vehemently. "You can't blame yourself for everything, you understand? As it stands, this charming young lady is only alive because of you." Jaune brightened up slightly. _They have a point, stop beating yourself up, man._ "Now, there's one thing that confuses me. Ren said you gave blood for a transfusion?" Nora hadn't been especially lucid at that point, what with the shock, blood loss and morphine, so Ren had covered that part.

"Yeah, that's right." Jaune replied, already knowing where this conversation was going.

"So you've gotten over your fear of needles?" Jaune's father enquired politely.

Jaune considered lying to his parents, but decided against it. "Not in the slightest. It' just that I'm even more scared of losing a friend." He noticed that his friends were staring at him. "What?" WHAM! Tackle-hugged by Nora. "Nora! Oxy…" Jaune trailed off, unable to continue for want of air.

"Nora," Ren sighed. "You're crushing Jaune."

"Oops!" Nora trilled, releasing Jaune. "Sorry!"

Once he no longer felt in danger of passing out from oxygen deprivation, Jaune turned to his parents. They were grinning. Knowingly. "What was it you said about Jaune?" his father asked, turning to face Yang. "Spoken for, even if he doesn't know it?"

"Well, she's certainly cheerful." Jaune's mother said, looking contemplative. "I can think of worse girls for him." She concluded, shooting a look at Yang that was… probably meant to be a joke. It hit him. _They think Nora has a thing for you. That might be funny if it weren't so awkward._

"Mom, dad…" Jaune started. "I'm pretty sure Nora's not interested in me in that way." They raised their eyebrows. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I know who she's after."

"Well, that's unfortunate." Jaune's father replied. "I know you like redheads." Silence. Again. Even Marie seemed to sense that something was wrong. _Why would he do that to you?_ Laughter. Yang laughing. Ruby giggling. Weiss and Blake trying not to laugh, and failing.

"You didn't need to say that, dad." Jaune said bluntly. "I mean, there was no need. I could have gone my entire life without my friends all knowing that I think red hair looks good on a girl." He clenched his fists, growing angrier. "I mean, I'm on a team with two redheads, for Oum's sake!" He was shouting now, and that was unusual. Normally when he got angry, he went quiet and cold. But this wasn't the usual anger; no rage, no fury, just embarrassment and annoyance amplified to an immense degree. And that combination, it seemed, led to shouting. "One of those redheads is kind enough to take time out of her evenings to help me train! But NO! Go ahead and make her uncomfortable around me!" He felt someone tapping him on the shoulder, and turned sharply, still glaring. "What- oh, Pyrrha! Sorry for yelling." He calmed down quickly, not wanting to upset her.

"No need to apologize," Pyrrha replied, a look of understanding on her face. "That was… somewhat awkward. I'd be embarrassed too." She gave him a reassuring little smile. "And just to make things fair, I should probably tell you that blonde hair looks good on a man."

A few minutes later, the awkward atmosphere had dissipated despite Pyrhha's little revelation (Jaune knew she was trying to make things _less_ awkward, but she'd failed), and regular conversation resumed. Marie proved to be a huge hit with Team RWBY, and Jaune's parents took an interest in his friends. His father talked with his teammates, eager to gauge his exact level of ability, while his mother was asking all sorts of questions about his life at Beacon. There was a brief moment of tension regarding his rocky relationship with Weiss, but nothing came of it, and they moved on.

The next little _moment_ came about when Jaune showed his parents Team JNPR's dorm room. "So you all sleep in the same room?" His father asked, looking mildly surprised. "Things have certainly changed since my student days." His eyes misted over with recollection. "Back then they had communal dorms; one for the boys, and another for the girls, to prevent mischief." He shook his head a little and turned to Pyrrha who, as per Jaune's predictions, he had taken an almost immediate liking to. "I trust my son hasn't been indulging in any _mischief_?" He asked, a hint of steel in his tone, and a warning gleam in his eyes.

"No mischief sir," Pyrrha replied, clearly understanding his meaning. "Since I met him, Jaune's never been anything other than a gentleman."

"Gentleman nothing!" Jaune called out jokingly. "That was all fear."

"Fear?" Pyrrha enquired, looking slightly offended.

"Seven sisters, remember? I know that having a girl angry at you can be a real nightmare. _Especially_ when it's a girl you see every day." He shuddered. "I learned that lesson the hard way." His parents laughed, along with most of his firneds, and conversation resumed, another little moment of tension defused. They moved on.

The day progressed without further incident, and eventually, after dinner (Marie managed to make almost as big a mess as Nora), little Marie was clearly starting to tire. "Okay, time for bed." Jaune's mother said.

"But I'm not sleepy!" Marie protested, her eyelids beginning to droop and making her lie apparent.

"Even so, you're going to bed." Jaune's mother replied, clearly used to this particular battle. Marie, being four, responded by sticking her tongue out and hiding behind Jaune's legs. Jaune couldn't help but grin; it was almost infuriating how cute his little sister was. "Marie…" The strict voice. Jaune found himself cringing slightly at that, just out of instinct.

"Lullaby." Marie replied, sounding insistent.

"I'll sing you your lullaby." Jaune's father reassured her.

"No!" Marie snapped. "Jaune." Jaune recalled that he'd always sung Marie's lullaby back before he'd left for Beacon. His father began to laugh.

"I swear, all that boy's sisters were taken with him from the start." He chuckled, a broad grin creasing his weathered face.

"You're not wrong." Jaune's mother replied warmly. "Remember when he was nine, and his older sisters found out about those boys who were picking on him?" Jaune's father shuddered.

"As if I could forget. There's such a thing as going too far." He replied, seeming slightly pensive.

"Jaune! Lullaby!" Marie yelled impatiently, tugging at his sleeve.

"Okay, okay, just let me get my guitar." Jaune grinned, exiting the guest room that his parents were being put up in for the night. To his surprise, he ran straight into Cardin, who was holding Jaune's guitar with a smug grin on his face.

"I had Sky pick this up from your room, Jauney Boy." Cardin said, a wicked grin on his face. "Had him tune it too, seeing as how it's his area of expertise."

"I, uh, didn't know he played." Jaune replied nervously.

'Apparently he thought it would help him find a girl." Cardin was clearly having fun.

"W-why did you have him get my guitar?" Jaune asked, feeling certain that this was going to end badly.

"Because it's a lot better than Sky's, and you can't cut corners when it comes to singing your little sister to sleep."

"How did you know about that?" Jaune demanded.

"Lucky guess." Cardin replied flippantly. "Or maybe I have a baby sister of my own. You don't know, and I'm never telling you." Jaune noticed something odd in Cardin's voice, almost… brittle.

"Cardin…" Jaune started, seeing ahint of pain in Cardin's eyes.

"Your sister's waiting for her lullaby, Jauney Boy." Cardin interrupted, a sad smile on his face. "You'd better hurry." Jaune nodded and turned to leave. _Bet there's one heck of a story behind that, and one day you might even learn what it is._

Jaune returned to the guest room, guitar in hand. "Okay, time for your lullaby." He cleared his throat and began to play. After a few bars he began to sing in a deep, rich baritone that was completely removed from his usual voice.

 _"There's a monster that lives 'neath your bed  
Oh for crying out loud it's a futon on the floor  
He must be flat as a board_

 _There's a creature that lurks behind the door  
Though I've checked there 15 times  
When I leave then he arrives  
Every night"_

He could remember the first time he'd sung this; Marie, just shy of her third birthday, had gotten it into her head that there were monsters under her bed, and no amount of reassurance would calm her down.

 _"Tell the monster that lives 'neath your bed  
To go somewhere else instead  
Or you'll kick him in the head_

 _Tell the creature that lurks behind the door  
If he knows what's good he won't come here no more  
Cause you'll kick in his butt at the count of four"_

He'd hated singing his baby sister so scared, and remembered a song he'd listened to a few times online.

 _Goodnight demon slayer, goodnight  
Now it's time to close your tired eyes  
There are devils to slay and dragons to ride  
If they see you coming, hell they better hide_

 _Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight  
Goodnight my little slayer goodnight_

His first performance of it had been weak; he'd just read the lyrics over a couple of times to memorize them, played the song, and sung along in a hesitant, cracked imitation of the original singer's own sonorous voice.

 _"Tell the monster that eats children, that you taste bad  
And you're sure you'd be the worst he's ever had  
If he eats you, don't you fret, just cut him open with an axe  
Don't regret it, he deserved it, he's a cad_

 _Tell the harpies that land on your bed post  
That at the count of five you'll roast them alive  
Tell the devil it's time you gave him his due  
He should go back to hell, he should shake in his shoes  
Cause the mightiest, scariest, creature is you"_

But it worked. Marie had calmed down, and had, after a few dozen promises from Jaune and the rest of the Arc clan that they wouldn't let anything happen to her, slept like a log.

 _"Goodnight demon slayer, goodnight  
Now it's time to close your tired eyes  
There's devils to slay and dragons to ride  
If they see you coming, hell they better hide_

 _Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight  
Goodnight my little slayer goodnight"_

Over time, he'd improved the performance, first by finding an instrumentals-only version of the song, so his was the only voice, and then by learning how to play it on his guitar.

 _"I won't tell you, there's nothing 'neath your bed  
I won't sell you, that it's all in your head  
This world of ours is not as it seems  
The monsters are real but they're not in your dreams  
Learn what you can from the beasts you defeat,  
you'll need it for some of the people you meet_

 _Goodnight demon slayer, goodnight  
Now it's time to close your tired eyes  
There are devils to slay and dragons to ride  
If they see you coming, hell they better hide_

 _Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight  
Goodnight my little slayer goodnight_

 _Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight  
Goodnight"_

He smiled as he saw that, true to form, Marie was fast asleep. He tucked her in, walked out the door… and had a coughing fit right in front of Pyrrha. "Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked, her features plastered with concern.

"I'm fine, it's just -HUUAARRK- just the voice. It's kind of a strain."

"It sounded very nice." Pyrrha said encouragingly. With that, they returned to their dorm, and were asleep before long.

 _Jaune could smell blood. He had no clue where he was, an unfamiliar forest surrounded him. Dust, soot, a little burned hair. Smells of battle. He began to walk towards the smells. A new scent made itself apparent. Something musty, animal, and slightly smoky, with just a hint of rotting meat; Grimm. He came to a clearing, and was surprised to find his father, lying on the ground with his back propped up against a tree. His dad was in a bad way; deep gashed scored his chest, he was missing an eye, and his left leg was basically just a mess of torn muscle and splintered bone. "Dad!" Jaune exclaimed. "What happened to you?" His father raised one shaking hand and pointed down a path that looked ragged, as if it had been made by a wild animal tearing its way through the undergrowth._

 _"Marie…" His father croaked, scarcely able to speak. "Save… Marie." Jaune's eyes went wide with shock, and he tore down the path. The hateful, copper-stink of blood was everywhere now, and the putrid reek of Grimm was growing stronger. He saw his mother. Her arms were torn up, and she just raised one ruined limb and pointed down another ragged path. He ran. More blood, more Grimm-stink. He stopped. There was a huge Ursa standing in the clearing, blood splattered across its face and chest. Claws caked with dried gore. It looked wounded; clearly his parents had put up a good fight, but it was just so massive a beast, three times the size of any Ursa he'd ever seen before. A splash of colour drew his eye. A little yellow shoe, splattered with blood. A scrap of blue fabric, stained red. And in the Ursa's mouth, a tiny body, clad in a bloodstained blue dress. Her tiny head hanging down, pretty blue eyes blank and cold, blonde hair streaked crimson. Marie._

"NO!" Jaune screamed, falling out of bed. His whole body was slick with cold sweat, his heart pounding so hard it was almost deafening. His eyes, already filled with tears, went wide as he felt a stirring in his belly, leading him to run for the bathroom. After throwing up and spending the next five minutes dry-heaving, Jaune was feeling slightly less nightmarish. "That," He said to himself. "Was worse than I've had in a while." He peered out into the bedroom. "Man, talk about heavy sleepers."

He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep after a nightmare like that. How could he? So Jaune Arc did the only thing he knew would help. He walked out of his team dorm, and made his way down to the locker room. He opened his locker and changed into his armour. Then, sword and shield in hand, he headed over to the guest room his family were using, and stood guard outside the door until he fell asleep.

Author's notes: What the hell is wrong with me? A cutesy, goofball chapter like this one, and I still manage to end it in a dark place. Okay, so… addressing events in the show; this fic is completely incompatible with recent episodes, unless you take it as happening before them. So this is either pre-Vytal festival, or in an AU. If you want a better idea of what little Marie looks like, do an image search for 'Seras Victoria', and imagine what she would have looked like at age four. Oh, and while that bit with Cardin _will_ be part of an effort to give himmore depth and maybe even reform him, that will be happening in a different fic.

Now on to the comments made by someone who didn't even have the common courtesy to make them under a username. This _delightful_ reader said that my writing so many beatings for Cardin was like the shooters from Columbine. Fun fact: there's no credible source that says the Columbine shooters were victims of bullying. In fact, some sources say that the mastermind was himself a bully who delighted in tormenting homosexual students. Post-facto psychological assessments of the shooters revealed that one was an aggressive sociopath prone to cruelty, and the other was clinically depressed, and using it as a form of suicide. I don't write Cardin as changing because I've done some cursory research into the nature of bullies, psychologically speaking. And regarding Weiss? You're right, she isn't under any obligation to like Jaune. But there's such a thing as common courtesy. She responds to his initial advances with mockery and disdain, and my big issue is that it isn't just Jaune. She treats everyone like an inferior initially. I know I'm getting way too bent out of shape over one comment, but the reader in question hit one of my berserk buttons; they told me to move on, and get over the bullying. I can't do that, because I still have an unstable temper, confidence issues, and difficulty trusting authority figures as a result of that bullying. Don't tell me to just move on, okay?

In fact, quick little set of warnings; I don't want to see bigotry, I don't want to see words like 'autistic' or 'retarded' used as insults, and no rape jokes. They're just not classy, okay? Sorry for the rant, and I hope the next chapter doesn't take so long. Anticipate some seriously awkward interactions between Jaune and Pyrrha. Oh, and before I forget, please feel free to try and work out what songs Jaune was singing in the shower. A clue; they're all by the same band. I'll give a shoutout to the first person to get it right. The lullaby is 'Goodnight Demon Slayer', by a musician called Voltaire, who I heartily recommend. In fact, any songs that pop up in my fics come with a recommendation.


	9. Chapter 9: Why is this so hard?

Pyrrha knew something was wrong as soon as she woke up. She wasn't sure what was wrong, just _something_. The room just seemed… wrong. Something was missing. _Why can't you hear Jaune singing in the shower?_ She heard a knocking at the door. It was Cardin. Unexpected, to say the least. Not to mention unwelcome. "What do you want?" Pyrrha snapped.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to be a little nicer." Cardin replied, a smug grin on his face. "I mean, I take time out of my day to tell you where Jauney boy is, and you snap at me?" He was clearly enjoying this.

"Where is he?" Pyrrha asked, perhaps a little faster than was advisable, considering that she was trying to hide her feelings for a certain blonde.

"Right this way." Cardin replied coolly, before leading her to the guest room where Jaune's family were sleeping. And, as it turned out, where Jaune was sleeping too, slumped against the door in full armour, sword and shield lying to either side. The rest of Team CRDL were already there with amused expressions on their faces. Pyrrha, however, was far from amused; she could only think of one reason why Jaune would be in a position like that, and it was far from funny.

"Nightmare…" She murmured, forgetting the company she kept.

"Excuse me?" Cardin seemed genuinely curious, rather than mocking.

"He told me…" Pyrrha remembered who she was talking to. _Do you really want to tell Cardin something like this?_ "Never mind."

"Nice try, but you said 'nightmare'." Cardin replied, looking unbearably pleased with himself. "Now spill it." Pyrrha hesitated. "You know I'll spread rumours without the facts, and you know I'll come up with something worse than the truth."

"He told me he has nightmares where… where people die." Pyrrha blurted out, wondering if she was doing the right thing. "People important to him."

"Well," Cardin said, almost casually. "That explains why my sleep was interrupted by a scream last night. Apparently I'm the only light sleeper in this school." His expression turned serious. "So, I'd say it's pretty obvious that his nightmare was about his little sister." Pyrrha was surprised by how serious and analytical Cardin was being. "He probably couldn't get back to sleep afterwards, so he stood guard to make himself feel better."

"Pathetic." Dove scoffed, his contempt obvious. Suddenly, the hallway felt a little colder.

"Dove," Cardin said, his voice little more than a whisper. "Do you remember what I told you yesterday?" He asked, sounding angry.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot-"

"What did I say, Dove?" Cardin demanded, his tone insistent.

"You… said that as long As he was treating her right, Jaune got a pass on anything involving the kid." Dove mumbled, looking nervous.

"That's right. And this involves the kid, so shut up." Pyrrha was surprised by Cardin's attitude. She wondered what the story behind it was. To her surprise, Cardin herded his team away, leaving her to wake Jaune alone.

"Jaune," She whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Jaune!" She hissed, a little louder, while gently shaking him. He remained asleep, but her shaking caused his hand to brush against the hilt of his sword. _Yeah, you might want to move that out of reach before you wake him up like this, just in case he's a little jumpy._ After sheathing his sword, Pyrrha returned to the business of rousing Jaune. "Jaune!" She was about twice as loud as before, and shaking him hard.

"Huh, wuzzat?" Jaune mumbled, his eyes barely open.

"Jaune, you're in the hallway." Pyrrha said, concern colouring her tone.

"What? Why would I-" Jaune began, before a look of realization passed across his features. "Oh, right."

"Let's get you back to our dorm before the others wake up, okay?" Pyrrha asked, trying to sound gentle, since she had a pretty good idea what Jaune's night had been like.

"Wait, just let me… there's something I gotta do first." With that, the drowsy blonde, still blinking the sleep out of his eyes, carefully opened the door to his family's room a crack and peered in. "Okay, let's go."

And so it was that they returned to their dorm, Jaune remaining silent, and Pyrrha unwilling to force the issue. Jaune walked into the shower without a word, and soon enough, the singing started. Upon discerning the genre, Pyrrha was unhappy, but unsurprised; screamo.

 _"_ _You're just a sad song_

 _With nothing to say_

 _About a life long_

 _Wait for a hospital stay_

 _And if you think that I'm wrong_

 _This never meant nothing to ya…"_

It was, once again, performed rather well.

After breakfast, it was time to say goodbye to the Arcs. Jaune's father pulled him aside and whispered something to him, some secret among men. His mother hugged him and told him to work hard, to be a gentleman, and above all to take care of himself. And Marie… she wouldn't let go of Jaune until he'd promised to call home and talk to her more often, and he'd given her a recording of himself singing her lullaby so she could play it every night. With that, they said their final goodbyes, and headed into the airship that would take them home.

Cardin saw all of this, and found himself unable to supress a tiny grin. It had been… nice, seeing Jaune interact with his little sister. It brought back pleasant memories, and buried emotions. He had to admit, he was glad to know he could still feel like that. As he walked away, however, his mind began to wander down a dark, wretched, all-too familiar path. He began to remember a time, years ago, when he'd felt like that every day. He remembered what changed, what took those feelings away from him. A Faunus boy, one with a pair of dog ears, bumped into him, which was quite possibly the pinnacle of unfortunate timing. Especially since he was one of only two people in that particular hallway at the time. No interruptions. Five minutes later, Cardin walked away, breathing ragged and knuckles sore. There was a small splatter of blood on his shoes, but he didn't feel like making the damn effort to clean it off.

After his family had left, Jaune wasn't really sure what to do. They didn't have any classes, it being a Sunday, and he wasn't in the mood to head into town, which didn't leave many options. He read a few chapters of the book on tactics he'd gotten from Weiss, occasionally stopping to jot down a small note, before trying to get ahead on homework. But, inevitably, he just ended up hanging out. "Say, Nora…" Jaune began, a question occurring to him. "Your Semblance is bioelectricity, right?"

"Yep!" Nora replied cheerfully.

"So how come that White Fang guy's weapon hurt you? Shouldn't you have just absorbed it when he shocked you?" Jaune asked. It had been bugging him for a while.

"No Aura." Nora said. "No Aura means no Semblance, and no Semblance means I get shocked." She continued, almost flippantly. "Then cut." For a minute, nobody said anything.

"You messed Cardin up pretty bad." Jaune commented offhandedly.

"But I didn't mean to!" Nora protested loudly. "I forgot what grenades I had loaded!"

"Oh, well that makes sense." Jaune conceded.

"It was a strength 3 instead of a strength 2!" Nora shouted petulantly. "I only _meant_ to give him hairline fractures!" Nora could tell from their expressions that her friends were uncomfortable with this last detail. She never got why people seemed so determined to make things complicated. Cardin was a bad person, wasn't he? He liked hurting people, after all. So it was okay to hurt him, right? It stood to reason; good people deserved good things, and bad people deserved bad things. Besides, broken legs weren't a big deal, Cardin's Aura had mostly healed him within a couple of days. She hadn't wanted to hurt him that badly, but she wasn't exactly sorry about it, either. Ren seemed to understand… sometimes, but most people couldn't seem to get it unless they were really angry, otherwise they couldn't seem to manage it, and stuck to the familiar, complicated way they were used to.

Nora didn't like complicated. Well, sometimes she liked complicated, but that was for plans and stories. She didn't like applying it to right and wrong. Children, she felt, had the right idea. Keep it straightforward; good and bad, right and wrong, light and darkness. You could be one or the other, and you could even change which one you were, but you couldn't be in between. But she'd given up on trying to explain this to people; she hated the looks people always got when she did.

Nora knew a lot about looks and faces. For example, the one on Jaune's face meant something was bothering him, but he didn't want to say what. Pyrrha's expression meant she _knew_ what, and no force in all of Remnant would make her reveal that information. Ren's face… bothered her. Tightness at the corner of his mouth, brow furrowed very slightly, little signs like this told her that he was hiding something. He'd been like this for a while, and it bothered her. She wasn't used to there being secrets between her and Ren. _Really? No secrets at all? You know that's a dirty lie. You've been keeping your little secret for a long time, haven't you? Glass houses, and all that._

Ren was worried. You wouldn't know it, looking at him, but he was. Nora had been looking at him… strangely. She was onto him. He doubted that she knew about his feelings, but she clearly suspected him of hiding something. And this worried Ren because he wasn't ready for Nora to learn how he felt about her.

"Hey Ren," Jaune's voice cut through the silence that had developed. "There's something I want to talk to you about in private, do you mind?" Ren had a pretty good idea what Jaune wanted to talk about, and wasn't sure he wanted to talk about it.

"No problem, Jaune." On the other hand, he _did_ want to escape Nora's scrutiny for a few minutes while he worked out how to deal with her apparent suspicion.

"Okay then." Jaune said, heading towards the door. He stopped when he saw the expressions of his female teammates. Pyrrha's expression suggested that she had a pretty good idea what they were going to be talking about, or at least half of it, but Nora looked confused, like she didn't know what they could want to talk about that they couldn't say in front of her. "Guy talk." Jaune said, as if that explained everything, before walking out the door.

He kept his mouth shut at first, wanting to make sure they weren't being followed before he started the conversation. Once they reached the cafeteria, he headed to the vending machine and bought two cans of _People Like Grapes_ (a product of Team Nice Dynamite Beverages, which were a subsidiary of the Mavin Conglomerate). He tossed one to Ren and cracked his open before talking. "So," He began. "You still haven't approached Nora about your feelings, have you?"

Ren considered trying to say something in his defence, but… "No, I haven't." He raised an eyebrow as he cracked open his drink. "And you? Still too scared to ask Pyrrha out?"

"Terrified." Jaune replied, before taking a swig of grape flavoured high-fructose corn syrup. "We're going to have to do something, eventually."

"I know," Ren replied. "Eventually."

"A toast," Jaune said, raising his can. "To redheads."

Ren gave an almost-smile before raising his own can. "To redheads."

A few hours later, Jaune and Pyrrha were training up on the roof. They were past the drills and warm-ups, and well into the sparring. And, honestly, Pyrrha was impressed. Not with Jaune's technique, which was still somewhat lacklustre, but with the sheer conviction he was putting into every strike. They'd previously had issues with this; his gentle nature often stopped him from attacking with any real force during their sparring matches, but he was giving it his all this time. It was honestly somewhat worrying, Pyrrha reflected as she parried a particularly forceful slash. She decided to test his defence, leading with a shield bash before launching into a series of lightning-fast strikes, even switching between sword and spear mid-combo.

"Huh! Whoah! Gah! Haha! Yah! Eek! Oof! Blargh!" Jaune often made some… interesting sounds when he was on the defensive. Yelps of panic, grunts of pain and exertion, and laughs of triumph when he thought he saw an opening. They really needed to do something about that last one; it tended to make his counterattacks somewhat telegraphed.

"That was better, Jaune!" Pyrrha said encouragingly. "You managed to block or avoid most of them."

"Yeah, pity about those last two." Jaune chuckled.

"You still telegraph your counters too much." Pyrrha replied not unkindly. "It makes you too easy to predict."

"Got it." Jaune replied, rising to his feet and falling back into a defensive stance. "Now, let's try that again." Pyrrha nodded curtly before leaping into the fray, striking out with an even faster and more complex combination of attacks. And, funnily enough, Jaune fared better than she expected. He blocked, parried and dodged the majority of her onslaught, and while he did take a few hits, they were all glancing. Most surprisingly, however, was his counterattack. Or rather, his counterattacks. The first had been a shield bash, which she'd met with her own shield, producing a loud clanging sound. Second had been a kick she'd had to deflect with the flat of her sword. Third and final was a thrust from her left side, which she ducked under before slashing at his chest.

"Again." He wheezed, returning to his starting stance. Pyrrha shrugged, and attacked him once again. Jaune's performance was a little weaker this time, but still solid. He was beaten before too long.

"Again." He was still giving it his all, but that didn't change the simple fact that he was clearly starting to tire. His movements were slower, his reflexes growing sluggish, and his strikes weaker.

"Again." At this point he was just plain sloppy, and Pyrrha had him beat in ten seconds. And still, he got up.

"Jaune, I think we should call that a night." Pyrrha said as kindly as possible.

"Aw, come on!" Jaune replied. "I'm good for a few more rounds!"

"We've been up here for an hour longer than usual, Jaune." Pyrrha tried to sound firm, but still gentle and understanding. "I really think that's enough."

"No!" Jaune barked. "I need to be stronger!"

"But it's not safe to keep going like this!" Pyrrha retaliated, her composure slipping. "You could get hurt!"

" _I don't care!_ " Jaune screamed, eyes wide. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke quietly. "Please, Pyrrha."

 _Oh, Oum. He looks so sad. How can you say no to that? Just… one more round, where's the harm in that?_

"Alright, one more round." Pyrrha said. "But that's it."

"Pyrrha, you're the best." Jaune said, seemingly oblivious to the effect his words had on Pyrrha. They fell into their stances, and began.

 _May as well do this right._ Pyrrha started out on the defensive, giving Jaune time to work on his offensive capabilities. He led with a shield rush, before slashing at her when she sidestepped. Pyrrha parried easily, before ducking a high slash. Jaune thrust, she deflected the blade. He threw and overhand chop, and it bounced harmlessly off her shield. After a couple of minutes, Pyrrha decided it was time to end the match. So, choosing her moment, she ducked under a clumsy slash and flicked out with her sword, dragging the tip along Jaune's side. To her surprise, she cut clean through the cloth of his hoodie, and opened a long, shallow cut in his side. "Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out, horrified.

"I'm okay, I'm… I'm mostly okay." Jaune reassured her between hisses of pain. "Man that stings."

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you-"

"Pyrrha, it's not your fault." Jaune interrupted. "I should have told you I was out of Aura. We should have just ended the night with a couple of drills." He gently prodded the cut and winced. "Hey, could you get the first aid kit I brought up?" Jaune gestured towards a small bag.

"You expected to be injured while training?" Pyrrha enquired.

"Are you kidding? After what happened with Nora, I haven't left the dorm without a first aid kit!" Jaune exclaimed, a grin suddenly on his face. "I've been taking it to class!" Pyrrha began to giggle. "I'm serious!" Jaune yelled theatrically. "I'm listening to Professor Port's stories with a roll of bandages handy!"

Still laughing at Jaune's melodrama, Pyrrha retrieved the first aid kit.

"Thanks Pyrrha." Jaune said, before removing his hoodie and undershirt without ceremony.

 _Dang._ Pyrrha was… not ready for what she saw. Jaune had improved. That was simply a fact. He'd probably never be a huge slab of muscle like Cardin, but that was to be expected. A swordsman developed different musculature to a mace wielder; less bulky, leaner. His shoulders were broader than she remembered (the dress had shown them off rather nicely), with thicker arms and more developed pectorals. And moving down… Pyrrha's mouth went dry. The abs. He had them, they were decently defined. Not a fully-fledged six-pack, but getting there. And of course, it was all slick with sweat, which just amplified the effect. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she watched in silence as Jaune quickly cleaned and dressed his injury. As she scrutinized his sculpted torso, she came to the conclusion that, while not quite a beefcake, he was getting there. _Like… a meat pie? Maybe? No? Is that dumb? Yeah, that's… probably pretty dumb._

"Pyrrha." She heard him, but she just couldn't seem to react. "Hello? Ground control to Pyrrha?" She finally snapped out of it.

"Sorry, I was just…" Pyrrha trailed off.

"Enjoying the view?" Jaune enquired, a smirk on his face and one eyebrow cocked. And just like that, Pyrrha was stunned back into silence. Had he really just said that?

Jaune grinned hugely. That had been _smooth_. That being said, Pyrrha was clearly uncomfortable, so he felt it best to defuse the situation. "Kidding! I'm just… just kidding Pyrrha, you can relax." He sighed. "As if that'd ever happen, right?" _That's the ticket, use a joke to get a handle on how she feels about you. A little cowardly, but it's better than nothing._

"I don't know, Jaune…" Pyrrha began, a tiny grin on her face. "It _was_ a nice view…" And just like that, Jaune wasn't feeling so smug. _Wow. She turned that around on you pretty quick, huh? And somehow, you didn't see this coming. So much for being a tactician. Quick, think of something, you can't afford to lose your advantage here._

"W-well, my uh… my view is pretty good too right now." Jaune stammered out, somewhat awkwardly. Pyrrha took a step towards him. "Of course, you've got more going for you than just looks…"Jaune breathed, closing the distance between them.

"Oh?" Pyrrha breathed the word, exhaling more than speaking.

"There's your brains… your strength, of course," Jaune continued, drawing closer.

"Of course." Pyrrha said.

"Add in your personality, and what guy could ever resist you?" He was careful to add a certain lightness of tone, so he'd have a way out if Pyrrha seemed offended.

"That's sweet of you to say." Pyrrha said shyly.

"What guy could resist you?" Jaune repeated quietly, leaning in. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Where had he found the courage? And was Pyrrha feeling the same… electricity in the air as him? They were so close, their faces only a few inches apart when…

"Ask me _one more time,_ Dove! See what happens!" Cardin's voice tore through the night, taking the mood and brutally beating it to death before setting it on fire. "The next one of you idiots to bug me about going easy on Jaune yesterday goes out the window, got it?"

And just like that the electricity was gone, replaced with awkwardness.

"So…" Jaune started, the wind having been taken out of his sails. "I uh, I dealt with the cut, so what do you say we call it a night?"

"Well, seeing as I wanted us to call it a night a while ago…" Pyrrha trailed off, her humour sounding forced.

"Heheh… guess you were right. Again." Laughing nervously, Jaune threw on his hoody, slipped through the door and ran. However, rather than heading to his dorm, he rushed off to find someone who he felt could help him with his current situation. Someone, he felt, who owed him. "Come on, open up, open up!" He hammered at the door impatiently, and very nearly clocked Neptune in the face when he finally opened it.

"Oh, hey Jaune." Neptune said. "What brings you here?"

"I need advice." Jaune replied bluntly.

"Something important?" Neptune asked, clearly curious.

"Very." Jaune replied.

"Personal?" Neptune raised one eyebrow.

"Deeply." Jaune had his poker face on. Jaune lost at poker. A lot.

"Okay," Neptune sighed. "Let's go." With that, the blue haired Hunter walked off down the hall.

"See, the thing is-" Jaune began before Neptune waved him into silence.

"You can come out, Sun." Neptune called out, sounding slightly exasperated. "I know you're there."

"How'd you know?" Sun asked, dropping from the rooftop above them.

"Because you never mind your own business." Neptune replied, shooting Jaune an apologetic look. "Sorry about this."

"It's fine." Jaune assured him.

"Any chance you'll head back to the dorm?" Neptune asked Sun.

"Sure, 'cause hanging out with Scarlet and Sage sounds _way_ more fun than whatever you guys are doing." Sun quipped. Neptune had to admit, Sun had a point. Neptune certainly knew which option he'd choose.

"Jaune, are you okay with Sun being here?"

"I don't mind, as long as he can keep a secret." Jaune replied. "Heck, if he's good with girls, he can join in!"

"So it's about Pyrrha." Neptune smirked. "Again." Jaune sighed. He'd been going to Neptune for advice for a while.

"Wait a minute; Pyrrha?" Sun seemed shocked. "Pyrrha _Nikos_?" He gave a low whistle. "Man, talk about shooting for the stars."

"That's what I said." Neptune replied calmly. "And to answer your questions, Sun is… okay with secrets, and _every_ member of Team SSSN is an expert in the ways of women." Neptune seemed to take pride in that fact. "Even Scarlet." He added, after a moment of hesitation.

"In that case, I'd appreciate any help he could offer." Jaune said, looking hopeful.

"Sure," Sun said casually. "I'll help. But you're gonna have to give me something to work with."

"Okay." Jaune sighed before launching into an explanation of the night's events. "… and then it was just kind of awkward."

"Oh gee, ya think?" Sun asked sarcastically. "You were shirtless, and it was kind of awkward?"

"Yeah, kind of stating the obvious there, buddy." Neptune said, a little less harshly than his friend had.

"So, what do I do?" Jaune asked.

"You ask her out," Sun replied almost instantly. " _Duh._ "

"But _how_?" Jaune practically howled. Sun turned and looked at Neptune.

"Red light green light?" He asked the blue-haired boy.

"Red light green light." Neptune confirmed.

"Uuuuhhh… Excuse me?" Jaune asked, utterly perplexed.

"It's a system I have for this kind of thing."

"Yeah, 'cause his whole 'cool' things is an act." Sun butted in, taking a cheap shot at his friend.

"Hey!" Neptune snapped, clearly offended. "There's nothing wrong with putting some thought into being cool." He seemed to remember the original purpose of the conversation. "So! Anyway, Red light green light. Just a little way of organizing things. The things you say and do when asking a girl out. Anything that's clingy, creepy, moving too fast, or just dumb is a red light, anything good is green."

"You're not the first to come to us for help, in case you couldn't tell." Sun explained.

"I have many disciples, yes." Neptune deadpanned, sounding completely serious. "And now, let's play some red light green light."

"Yeah, let's play!" Sun exclaimed, before looking slightly confused. "Let's play… Huh, feels kind of familiar… weird."

"Just pretend you're talking to Pyrrha, okay?" After a moment of hesitation, Jaune nodded.

"Hey, uh, Pyrrha." Jaune said awkwardly.

"Smooth." Sun heckled, a huge smirk on his face.

"This, uh, probably sounds a little sudden, but I can't stop thinking about you and-"

"Red light." Neptune interjected. "You're coming on _waaay_ too strong there. It's kind of creepy. Try again." And so it went.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was looking for some advice of her own. "Come on," She muttered, waiting outside Team RWBY's dorm. "Open the door." After a moment the door opened up, and Yang came into view.

"Hey Pyrrha, how's it go-uwaaagh!" The blonde huntress yelped as Pyrrha Yang-ked (no apologies shall be offered for puns) her out of her dorm and rushed off with her in tow, only stopping when they reached an empty corridor. "Whoah! Easy there Pyrrha!" Yang began. "Wrong blonde! Wrong blonde!"

"That's not funny!" Pyyrha said, profoundly embarrassed.

"I get that a lot, and yes it is." Yang replied, unfazed. "Now, I'm guessing this is about vomit boy?"

"I wish you wouldn't call him that." Pyrrha said reproachfully. _Why did she even come up with a new nickname for him if she wasn't going to use it?_

"Well, he _did_ throw up literally the first time I ever saw him." Yang rebutted. "And I really liked those shoes, too…" Yang trailed off, clearly heading on a tangent.

"IsawJaunewithoutashirt." Pyrrha mumbled, eyes to the ground.

" _What_ was that?" Yang's eye's bugged out with shock.

"I… saw Jaune," Pyrrha said, feeling exposed. "Without a shirt." Suddenly, Yang had Pyrrha's shoulders in a deathgrip.

"Tell. Me. Everything." Yang's expression was serious. It was intense.

"We-we were training on the roof, and-" Pyrrha began, before Yang cut her off.

"And you were overcome by desire, throwing yourself at Jaune, and stripping him to the waist?" Yang asked, a mocking grin plastered on her face.

"And he was pushing himself even harder than usual." Pyrrha said, giving Yang a Look. "Normally I have trouble convincing him not to hold back-"

"Hehehe…" Yang sniggered, before receiving another glare from Pyrrha.

"But this time, he was really giving it his all." Pyrrha immediately regretted her choice of words.

"Wow!" Yang exclaimed. "Giving it his all, huh? Hot." Yang was clearly enjoying herself and, not for the first time, Pyrrha began to wonder why she'd ever started coming to Yang for advice. _Because she knows what she's doing, and you don't._

"We were just training!" Pyrra protested, face crimson.

"Is that what you're calling it?" Yang asked, grinning hugely.

"Could you please go ten seconds without an innuendo?"

"Nope."

Pyrrha sighed. "Well, he insisted that we keep sparring, even though he was clearly exhausted-"

"And seeing his determination broke your self-control, leading you to break Jaune!" Yang completed.

 _Don't react. Don't let her know she's getting to you. Just ignore the jokes._ "And I ended up cutting him."

"Wait, _what_?"

"He'd exhausted his Aura without telling me."

"Is he crazy?" Yang asked, clearly upset to hear about what Pyrrha had to admit sounded like self-destructive behaviour.

"He'd… had a rough night." Pyrrha said, careful to avoid telling Yang the whole story.

"Okay, what happened next?"

"Well, he needed to take his shirt off so he could treat the cut, and…" Pyrrha couldn't think of single non-embarrassing way to end that sentence.

"And you liked what you saw." Yang finished, typically direct. "Can't say I blame you."

"Wait, what?" Pyrrha was understandably confused. " _You've_ seen Jaune without a shirt?" She really didn't need that kind of competition.

"No, but I have seen him in a tank top." Yang clarified. "It shows enough."

"Of course, I knew that the training would have an effect, but this was… a little more than I'd expected." Pyrrha wrinkled her brow. "Wait, when does Jaune walk around in a tank top?"

"When he's hitting the gym." Yang answered. "He hits the gym, he's all tank tops and shorts. Tight shorts."

Pyrrha spent a few seconds on that mental image, really drinking it in, before being struck by the obvious realization. "Wait, Jaune goes to the gym?"

"Three times a week, baby. Mostly cardio and isometrics, but he usually finishes off with weights." Yang replied casually.

"You certainly seem familiar with his workout regime." Pyrrha said, not quite accusingly.

"I helped him put together a workout program, and he spots me while I lift weights." Yang explained. "Funny thing," She said, a knowing grin on her face. "But Jaune's first time I've found a boy that was any good at spotting me. Usually they get a little _distracted_." She subtly puffed out her chest, making it clear what exactly they were distracted by. "But Jaune never takes his eyes off the weights. Most guys let their eyes wander a little, sometimes without meaning to, but keep an eye on Jaune when he's around girls; he never looks lower than their faces." She smiled sincerely. "Way I figure it, either he's the classiest guy I've ever met, he's already got his eye on someone, or he doesn't like girls."

"After everything he went through pursuing Weiss?" Blakes voice rang out from the shadows as she walked into view. "I'd say it's probably safe to assume he likes girls."

"Blake?! What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asks, startled by the girl's sudden appearance.

"I had the choice between trying to read while Ruby and Weiss argued and following you two." Blake offers by way of explanation.

"Good choice." Yang replied cheerfully. "You'll be keeping this a secret, right?"

"I'm good with secrets." Blake said calmly. "Now, back to business; we know he likes girls-"

"We know he _liked_ girls." Yang interrupts. "Weiss might have turned him off of girls for life!"

"We know he likes girls," Blake repeated, her voice impassive, although she couldn't quite conceal her amusement. "But what else?"

"Well…" Pyrrha began hesitantly, not sure whether or not she was making the right choice. "The night we celebrated Nora's recovery…" She found that she couldn't seem to continue.

"Spill it, Pyrrha." Yang prompted.

"Well, I was talking with Jaune and he…" She trailed off again.

"Go on." Blake urged, failing to appear impassive.

"He kind of… stared. For a little while. At me." Pyrrha could feel a blush of truly legendary proportions colour her face.

"Where exactly was he staring?" Blake enquired, her tone growing interrogative.

"At my face." Pyrrha replied nervously.

" _Just_ your face?" Yang asked.

"Well, mostly my face." She confessed awkwardly. "His eyes wandered a little, and then he just sort of stopped looking at me."

Blake had a smug little grin. "Well, seeing as how I've never seen Jaune act like that around other girls, and considering his previously-stated preference for redheads…"

"He wants you!" Yang crowed triumphantly. "What are you waiting for? Go for it!"

"It's not that simple!" Pyrrha snapped, somewhat uncharacteristically.

"Why not?" Yang asked. "You like him, he likes you, just tell him so you two can start making out already!"

"I don't… I don't know how to tell him." Pyrrha admitted, suddenly feeling very small.

"I think I can help you with that." Blake offered, pulling a book seemingly out of nowhere.

"Ninjas of Love?" Yang asked, smirking.

"Passion on the Barricades, actually." Blake replied coolly. "Revolutionaries, not ninjas. Just use chapter six as a starting point and you should be fine."

"Blake!" Pyrrha was blushing more than she'd thought possible.

"That might be moving a little too fast." Yang commented. "Huh, never thought I'd say that."

"Chapter six is the seduction, Pyrrha." Blake informed her, a tiny, sadistic grin on her face.

"…oh." Pyrrha was feeling somewhat foolish.

"Chapter fourteen is more what you seemed to have in mind." Blake deadpanned.

"Ooh, gimme!" Yang asked excitedly before snatching the book out of Blake's hands.

"Seriously Pyrrha, just tell him how you feel." Blake urged.

"I've never done anything like this before, Blake." Pyrrha responded. "It's… just so terrifying."

"Whoah!" Yang exclaimed, apparently engrossed in her friend's book. "Blake, this is… you've seriously been _reading_ stuff like this? And you didn't share?" Her eyes were wide, and her face was slightly flushed. "Okay Pyrrha, here's the plan; to get Jaune, copy chapter six. To _keep_ Jaune, chapter fourteen. I promise you he'll never leave you after that."

Pyrrha sighed. "Not helping."

"Hey!" Yang barked indignantly. "We've been plenty helpful!" She began to advance on Pyrrha, poking her in the chest repeatedly. "We've worked out that vomit boy likes you, we've told you what to do, what more do you want?"

"Yang has a point." Blake opined quietly. "There's really not much else we can do to help; it's up to you now." And with that, she walked away.

"Seriously, just ask him out." Yang made her parting comment, and left.

"Why is this so hard?" Pyrrha whispered sadly, before beginning the walk back to her dorm, unaware that an identical question was going through a certain blonde boy's head at that very moment.

Author's notes: Okay! So… just to make things simple; for the purposes of this story, volume 3 never happened. This kind of has to be AU. Still in denial about certain events in Volume 3, with theories about how things may not be what they seem. But let's focus on this chapter! I swear, the cryptic hints I've been dropping with Cardin will be explained eventually. Let's see… what else? Well, this chapter was tough for me to write. I've never really tried my hand at romantic writing before, so I was playing it by ear, and trying to put Jaune and Pyrrha through as much awkwardness as possible. Yang was probably the character I had the most fun writing in this chapter, although it was interesting, trying my hand at writing Neptune and Sun. Next chapter will see some OCs making quite an entrance. I still owe you one promised defeat for a certain someone, hehehehe… Oh, and as before, points to the first person to name the song Jaune's singing, and the band.


	10. Chapter 10: Here come the OCs

Nora could tell that it wasn't going to be a normal day as soon as she woke up. Ren was just a little too calm, to the point of being impassive. Nora had known Ren her entire life, and he'd only acted like this a handful of times, always for the same reason. It meant that something was getting to him, something he needed time to process. He'd done it when his parents died, and he was doing it again. Nora took consolation in the fact that it was nowhere near as pronounced as it had been all those years ago; whatever it was, it wasn't that overwhelming.

Then of course there were Jaune and Pyrrha; the tiny undercurrent of tension between them had been amplified hugely, to the point where Nora could practically taste it. They were constantly casting sidelong glances at each other when the other had their back turned, and when they seemed incapable of holding a conversation. Nora wasn't even going to _try_ to work out what happened between them… yes she was.

Under normal circumstances, she'd say something. Preferably quite loudly. But she didn't. She wasn't sure why; maybe she suspected that it would make things worse. It might have been the vague, unexplained sense that there was more to come. But it was probably the little voice in the back of her mind telling her that, just this once, she'd be better off if she didn't mention it. An unfamiliar thought for someone so used to saying whatever was on her mind, no matter how strange, but one she listened to, none the less.

And so, with an air of awkwardness surrounding them, they went through their classes until lunch. It was in the cafeteria, with the strange tension nearing a boiling point, where the day got interesting. Conversations were being had (although Jaune and Pyrrha seemed eager to make sure those conversations were with members of Team RWBY), the food was alright, and Team CRDL were, of course, being objectively awful to Velvet.

"Ow!" The rabbit-eared girl cried out in pain as Dove and Sky pulled her ears in opposite directions. "Stop that!"

"What was that?" Cardin asked. "Did you just tell me what to do, you little _freak_?" Nora started to worry; Cardin usually sounded like he was having fun when he picked on someone, but today, he just sounded angry. "Filthy _animals_ like you should know their place." He nodded to his teammates, and they grabbed velvets arms, holding her in place. Cardin's fist drew back for a haymaker, and he just _decked_ her, knocking her to the floor. And, before she could even recover from his first blow, he delivered a thunderous kick to her ribs, and another, and…

*BOOM!* The doors to the cafeteria flew open, and four unfamiliar faces walked through. At the front was a wiry man with mocha-coloured skin. His brown hair was roughly slicked back in a mess of spikes, as if to say 'this is exactly as neat as you will see my hair. Deal with it'. He wore dark blue, a loose-fitting pair of pants, light, flexible blue shoes, and a lightweight sleeveless jacket that ended around mid-thigh. He wore a pair of gauntlets, with bracers that stopped just short of his elbows, with rectangular protrusions sticking out. He grinned hugely, but there was something dangerous about it, like he wasn't so much grinning as he was showing his teeth, and he was constantly moving; hands clenching and unclenching, eyes darting around, the occasional tick and twitch, he was basically a human-shaped mass of nervous energy. In short, he looked wild, and kind of dangerous. He was definitely the reason for the loud entrance.

To his left and a couple of steps back was a tall, broad-shouldered Faunus man. A huge pair of curved horns rose out of his forehead, just below where his scalp began. His hair was bone-white, and bound in a rough ponytail. He wore a red leather bomber jacket with what looked like armour plating, and loose-fitting black pants, along with black leather high boots with gleaming brass buckles. The hilt of a truly massive two-handed sword peaked over his right shoulder, and his face was all business. Definitely the leader.

On the leader's right, a woman almost as tall as him was practically strutting in. She had long black hair with purple highlights, and a pretty enough face, but that was basically all that Nora could tell about her appearance beyond general build, because he body was clad in half-plate (for those who don't know, half-plate is a form of armour that covers the chest, shoulders, forearms and shins, while leaving the stomach, groin, upper arms and thighs unarmoured, and therefore able to move more freely). The plates were purple with gold trim, while the cloth covering the unarmoured portions of her body was cream-coloured. Her boots looked well-worn and extremely comfortable, and she had a massive firearm slung across her back. She had a cheeky grin plastered across her face, and generally looked like someone who was finding life to be a blast.

And finally she noticed the lady on the wild-looking man's left. She was pale with short black hair and a lean, athletic build. She wore a grey tank top, loose black fatigues, and the heaviest- most indestructible-looking boots Nora had ever seen. But the most noticeable thing about her was her arms. They were metal. There was no way around that fact; metal, mechanical arms, with a slight increase in size at the forearms, and slightly oversized hands. Once she tore her eyes away from the arms, Nora noticed the strange contrast between the girl's expression and her body language. Her body language was withdrawn, hesitant, begging the world not to notice her, but her expression was fierce, as if daring the world to pass comment. Nora also noticed that she seemed to be walking a little closer to the wild-looking man than necessary. She grinned to herself; no prizes for guessing what that could mean.

All four of these newcomers saw what Cardin was doing, and they all scowled, except for the wild-looking one that Nora had decided to call 'Twitch'. Twitch's reaction was more than a little unsettling. Twitch was looking at a group of boys ganging up on a Faunus girl, and he was grinning wider than before. Before the rest of his team could intervene, Twitch was heading over to Team CRDL.

"Aren't they just nauseating?" He asked, still grinning hugely. "I mean, they're stupid, they're violent, they're ugly, they smell _terrible_ , and we still have to act like they matter!"

"Yeah!" Cardin exclaimed. "It's totally Cra-"

" ** _SHUT YOUR FESTERING HOLE, PUKESTAIN!_** " The words came out as a roar as Twitch turned to face Cardin. As the echoes died down, he knelt down to help Velvet to her feet. "Well, Miss Scarlatina?" He asked, his tone suddenly friendly. "Aren't these idiots nauseating?" A small current of nervous laughter ran through the cafeteria.

"Who do you think you are?" Cardin demanded angrily. He took a sharp step back as Twitch was suddenly standing scant inches from him, a truly deranged grin on his face.

*SHINK!* A sword blade, about the length of Twitch's forearm, emerged from the back wrist of his right gauntlet. "You know, stuff like this really ticks me off." He said calmly. "I mean, it's bad enough when the strong prey on the weak, but now we've got the weak preying on the strong."

"I asked you a question!" Cardin snapped.

"I mean," Twitch went on, ignoring Cardin. "Miss Scarlatina here could wipe the floor with you punks, but that's not an option." Cardin opened his mouth to say something. Twitch looked at him. Cardin shut his mouth. "See, Faunus need to be careful, because the whole damn world is always looking for an excuse to attack. You idiots could hospitalise her, and people would talk about how awful you four were." He was pacing now, circling Team CRDL. "But if she were to fight back, and any of you suffered so much as a black eye, and all of a sudden everyone's talking about how violent _Faunus_ are, saying that they're basically animals." Somehow, his circling seemed to change in nature; he was a predator, circling his prey. "See, there are different rules for humans and Faunus; if you beat her up, it's just youthful high spirits, but if she fights back, it's a vicious and unprovoked assault. So she doesn't fight back." His grin was predatory too, Nora realised, full of barely-contained savagery. "I don't like that. And here's where it gets fun; see, I'm a human, which means that I have rather more options than Miss Scarlatina here does."

"My name's Velvet, by the way." Velvet spoke up, a tiny nervous grin on her face.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Tivra." He replied politely. "Son of a Faunus, at least by adoption." He returned his focus to Team CRDL. "And over there are Dante," He pointed to the horned Faunus. "Talia," The armoured girl. "And Noire." The girl with the mechanical arms. "We're Team DTNT (Detonate), and Ozpin asked us to return to the old Alma Mater as tutors." He chuckled lightly. "And I think I know what lesson number one should be." He focused his attention on Team CRDL. "Okay morons, get into the arena; I'm going to beat the stupid out of you."

There was a moment of awkward silence. "What, you think I'm joking?" Tivra got right up in Cardin's face, although he was forced to look up, as he was a few inches shorter than Cardin. "Dead serious, halfwit. I'll take on your whole team. And just to be fair, I won't use my Semblance _or_ ," The blades slid back into his gauntlets, and he removed the rectangular protrusions, which seemed to be storage for the blades, and ran through the length of his bracers. "My blades." His grin took on a self-satisfied aspect. "Of course, you could always chicken out."

And so they went to the arena; not just team CRDL, but every single person in the cafeteria. Tivra stood alone on one side of the arena, gauntleted hands hanging slack by his sides, while Team CRDL stood on the other side, posturing and jeering. "Man, you must be crazier than you look if you think you can take us on!" Russel boasted.

"You got that right!" Cardin agreed, a smug look on his face. "They'll have to carry you out when we're done."

"I hear you puppies barking away," Tivra began. "But you're not biting."

"Oh, you want us to bite?" Cardin was getting angry. "We'll tear you head off, you freak!"

"Yip yip yip," Tivra sounded bored. "Is that all you can do, puppy?"

Cardin was angry. He was very angry indeed. First this holier-than-thou nutjob had lectured him about some stupid crap he didn't care about, and now he had the gall to trash talk? Normally, Cardin would resolve this problem the obvious way; by smashing the twitchy little punk into the ground. But this guy… he seemed dangerous. Something about his eyes, and the way he grinned. Not to mention the fact that he was confident enough in his abilities to challenge and entire team to a fight, forgoing his Semblance _and_ the blades from his weapons, leaving him with nothing but a pair of gauntleted fists to work with. No, it was definitely best to let the others attack first; that way he'd be able to get an idea of how strong this guy was. Having made up his mind, he nodded to Sky, who charged in.

What happened next was… impressive. Unusual, but impressive. Tivra sidestepped Sky's charge at the last second, turned, and grabbed Sky's long hair, all in one fluid motion, pulling it as hard as he could while Sky was still running straight ahead. Sky's head snapped back and his legs flew out from under him just as Tivra released his grip, leaving him flat on his back. Grinning hugely, Tivra darted away.

Dove was next, stopping short of his enemy, unlike Sky, and slashing diagonally downwards. Tivra dodged without any apparent effort and nailed Dove with a kick to the jaw that sent him stumbling. Cardin finally got involved, bringing his mace crashing down, only to miss completely and get a right hook for his troubles. And Tivra was gone again, leaping and capering around the arena like a maniac. Every time someone struck at him, he'd dodge or parry, before countering and bounding off again, laughing his head off. "Come on!" He jeered after one such altercation. "At least land a hit!"

Russel lost his temper at that point, spinning end over end in his buzzsaw-like attack. Tivra's response was, Cardin had to begrudgingly admit, pretty cool. He held up his arms in front of him like an 'x', letting Russel's daggers glance harmlessly off of his bracers dozens of times, throwing up a fountain of sparks. He turned his head in time to see Dove charging him from the side and, without missing a beat, grabbed the still-spinning Russel by the wrists, and pulled him between himself and Dove just in time for poor Russel to serve as a human shield. "Sloppy," He commented. "Very sloppy." With that, he charged, using Russel as a battering ram to slam Dove into the wall.

Cardin saw his chance and rushed in to attack, striking the ground and sending a wave of fire at Tivra from directly behind. Somehow, Tivra saw this coming, and leapt out of the way, leaving nothing to stop Cardin's attack from frying Russel and Dove. Oops. And just to round out that little disaster, Sky charged Tivra, only to miss completely and receive a kick that made every boy in the arena wince, along with a fair few of the girls.

"I should feel bad about that last one," Tivra idly commented. "But I don't."

Dove had recovered, and closed in slowly, cautiously. Tivra threw a straight jab, which Dove very narrowly evaded, his head mere inches from Tivra's outstretched arm… *WHAM!* He swung his arm, slamming his metal-clad arm into the side of Dove's head. Russel slashed out at Tivra from the side, and received a flurry of jabs and hooks for his trouble. Sky rushed him, and Tivra clapped both hands over the boy's temples, dazing him long enough for Tivra to back up a few steps and send him sprawling with a flying two-footed drop-kick. Yes, really. A flying two-footed drop-kick. Cardin had needed a couple of seconds to process that. Tivra, however, did not. He rushed in, and delivered an objectively _beautiful_ uppercut before darting out of reach.

"Come on, puppies!" Tivra smirked. "You can do better than _that_ , can't you?" He began to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet, his hands held in front of him in the traditional boxer's positions (left hand forward for jabs and blocks, right hand back for hooks and haymakers.) But it was… off a little. He bounced too high, his hands were in ever-so-slightly the wrong positions, and his expression was too serious, especially for someone who until that point hadn't stopped grinning once. It was a parody of a boxer's stance, deliberately ridiculous. He was mocking them! "Go on, put up your dukes!" Tivra barked the words out, short and clipped.

"Tivra takes on all comers!" This outburst came from the audience, the armoured girl.

"Just give up before you get hurt." The freak with the metal arms advised.

Cardin scowled; there was no way in hell he was going to give up to this punk. He charged in again, bellowing at the top of his lungs, and _nearly_ connected. Tivra countered. He connected. It hurt. And it got worse, because Tivra was apparently getting bored with countering them whenever they attacked him. He was going on the offensive. He rushed at Sky, just as the poor sap had gotten to his feet, and slammed his head into the nearest wall. He took Dove down with a running clothesline. Russel tried to get the jump on him. Elbow to jaw, Russel to floor.

"Come on! Come on come on come _on_!" Tivra was leaping around. He was shaking his head, punching the air, and just generally acting like a complete mental case. "Stop trying to hit me and hit me! Need a proper fight! Need the rush, need the strain, need the pain, need the _fun_! You guys are boring! Slow, sloppy, _stupid_!" By this point, Russel, Dove and Sky were all hesitant to fight the madman in front of them any further, but Cardin knew they wouldn't go against his orders. He nodded to them, and watched as Russel and Dove closed in on Tivra, with Sky backing them up.

"That's the spirit!" Tivra bellowed gleefully. "Gang up on me, maybe you'll even make me break a sweat!" And then, he took them down like it was a pantomime show, meant to entertain five-year-olds. He grabbed Dove and Russel and brought their heads crashing together, before dispatching Sky with the old two-fingered eye gouge. "Then again, maybe not." He turned and ran at Cardin, leaping into the air at the last second and bringing both fists crashing down on the top of Cardin's head. "Man, you guys are _boring_." He reached out to Cardin, still staggering, and… tweaked his nose. "Honk, honk!" _Seriously? What is this guy's problem?_ The fight continued.

Russel was the first to be taken out of the fight; he had the shortest reach and no armour beyond a single shoulder pad, meaning he took the most hits. In the end, Tivra threw him over his shoulder before elbow-dropping him. His Aura went into the red, and he scurried out of the arena.

Next was Sky. He charged at Tivra, who turned to face him and… Well, Cardin wasn't exactly sure. All he knew was that Sky stopped in his tracks, a terrified expression on his face. Suddenly, Cardin was grateful that he couldn't see Tivra's face at that moment. Tivra reached out, snatched Sky's halberd right out of his hands, took a few steps back, and used it to pole-vault through the air, kicking Sky dead in the face. Two down, two to go.

Dove put up one heck of a fight, but Tivra deflected every strike harmlessly off of his bracers until Dove leapt back, trying to gain some distance and catch his breath. Big mistake. Tivra closed the distance, extending his left arm as far as he could to hit Dove in the diaphragm with a straight-fingered jab. And then, after winding Dove, he hooked his fingers under Dove's breastplate, which, in retrospect, probably should have ended just _below_ the diaphragm, rather than just above it, and pulled him forward, directly into a haymaker that started somewhere in Mistral. "And then," Tivra said, grinning like a sadist. "There was one."

Cardin considered his options, and decided that it would be better for his ego to go out fighting. He charged in for one last rush against the freak, swinging with all his might. *CLANG!* No. Unacceptable. There was no way that really happened. There was no way this skinny little psycho just defended himself by _punching Cardin's mace off-course_! That was ridiculous, Cardin had to have imagined it. He swung again. *CLANG!* Okay, he hadn't imagined it. *CLANG!* He wasn't being overpowered, that would just be too stupid. Rather, Tivra was punching the head of his mace perpendicular to the direction of his swing (okay, Cardin didn't really think a word like 'perpendicular', but you get the idea). If Cardin swung downward, Tivra would nail it with a right hook, sending it off to the left. If Cardin went at him from the side, he'd bring his fist crashing down on the mace-head, sending it slamming into the ground. It was vastly impractical; if he messed up his timing he'd be screwed. But he did it anyway, and he did it flawlessly. And Cardin knew why; to humiliate him. To make him look just as pathetic as possible.

And then, he got bored. And when he got bored, he stopped playing around. A fist slammed into Cardin's face. A knee slammed into his gut. A jab to one bicep, a kick in the temple. He stumbled back, dazed. He swung out wildly, desperately trying to keep Tivra away. No luck, the maniac just ducked in under his mace and threw another punch, right in the stomach. Cardin looked at the display screen and resisted the urge to sigh with relief; his Aura was in the red. *WHAM!* Okay, now his Aura was _further_ into the red. "What the hell?" Cardin demanded. "My Aura's in the red. Fight's over, you win."

"Oh, I'm not done with you yet." *WHAM!* His Aura seriously only had one or two hits like that left in it. "What's the matter? You look scared." *CLANG!* A shot to his armoured chest; it barely had any impact on his Aura, but when his Aura was so low, barely any was a lot more than he was comfortable with. "Not much fun being the prey, _is it_?" *CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!* His Aura was slowly but steadily ticking down. "To be _helpless_." *CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!* "To be at someone else's _mercy_." *WHAM!* A shot to the face that reduced his Aura to a tiny sliver. "Don't worry though, I'm not going to kill you." Tivra grinned like a corpse. "Of course, that doesn't mean I won't _hurt_ you." He drew back his fist for another punch. "People are surprisingly durable, so I can still have plenty of _fun_ with y-" *BOOM!*

Tivra's head snapped to the side, rocked by the force of the explosion. He turned to find the source of the shot, a fierce scowl on his face. Cardin saw his expression change from anger to recognition, and then to shame, and couldn't resist looking himself. It was the freak with the metal arms, one of which currently ended in a wide-bore cannon. She had a stern look on her face, but there was just a tiny hint of pain in her expression, a glimmer of moisture in the eyes. Tivra lowered his fist and sighed, turning back to face Cardin. "Sorry about that." He said, his voice suddenly calm. "I kind of lost it there for a minute."

"N-No harm done." Cardin replied nervously.

"Good thing Noire was here." He went on. "I swear, she's better at reining me in than my old man."

"Is that so?" Cardin felt a little creeped out; how had Tivra gone from a twitchy, psychotic mess of aggression to being perfectly calm? He'd even stopped twitching!

"She seems convinced that I'm a good person, you see." He chuckled. "I just don't have the heart to prove her wrong."

"She sounds pretty special" Cardin replied nervously. Tivra's eyes began to narrow as a frown formed on his face. "But, uh… Not my Type!" Cardin quickly added, realising his mistake.

"Oh?" Tivra's voice was dangerous again. "Is there something… wrong with her?"

"Not at all!" Cardin practically _screamed_. "I'm sure she's lovely! It's just, well, everybody has their own tastes, you know? Different strokes for different folks, am I right?"

"Ah, I'm just messing with ya, puppy." He playfully punched Cardin in the arm, which just so happened to be enough to completely exhaust his remaining Aura. "That girl's _way_ too much for you to handle." He cracked his neck, but not in the usual way. Most people cracked their neck by simply tilting their heads, but Tivra opted for a method that was downright unsettling; he turned his head to the side, laying the heel of his hand against his jaw and pushing his head further than it normally turned, producing what he probably considered a satisfying crack. Then, he turned his head the other way, pushing all the while, until he got another cracking noise, before rolling his head a couple of times, producing a variety of little clicks and pops; the whole thing was almost a ritual, and it creeped Cardin the hell out. "Okay, people, show's over!"

"Team JNPR stays, everybody else out!" Dante called out, his tone professional and unemotional. Jaune found himself feeling a little nervous as the room emptied, leaving just eight people.

"So, I'm guessing you're Jaune?" Talia asked. "Amy's told me a lot about you."

"You know my sister?"

"Well, we've been dating for eight months, so I'd say so." Silence.

"Amy has a g-girlfriend?" Jaune sputtered, quite thoroughly shocked. "She never said anything!" He stopped to think for a moment. "Man, mom and dad will _not_ be happy."

"Oh no, did I just make trouble for her?" Talia suddenly looked hugely worried. "I mean, she said she'd already come out to her family, but it sounds like-"

"She was supposed to introduce you to them!" Jaune exclaimed. "She knows the rules; any boyfriends or girlfriends have to be introduced if things get serious!"

"Oh thank Oum," Talia sighed with relief. "You really had me worried there."

"You're serious about this one." Dante stated simply.

"I think I might like to marry her one day." Talia replied meekly.

"Oh, here we go!" Tivra's voice rang out. "You're psychologically stable and emotionally intact enough for a lasting relationship, we _get_ it! Showoff."

"Wait, where are you?" Jaune asked, looking around wildly.

"Up here blondie." Jaune looked up and felt his mouth fall open in shock. Tivra was standing on the ceiling. He looked perfectly content to be up there, and gravity didn't seem to have any problems with that. His jacket and hair should have been hanging awkwardly, but to Jaune's surprise they weren't even the tiniest bit out of place; it was as if, for him, gravity was pointed in a different direction.

"How are you doing that?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"It's my Semblance, duh." Tivra replied, his expression making it clear what he thought of _that_ question. "See, my semblance messes with gravity, sort of. It's… weird."

"His Semblance re-orients how the planet's gravity affects him." Dante interjected, sounding ever-so-slightly exasperated. "When activated, gravity for him is determined by his feet. What they make contact with is where the gravity's coming from, as far as he's concerned."

"Right!" Tivra agreed. "So I can stand on walls, ceilings, branches that can't take a man's weight, I can jump off of stuff that's falling or flying through the air, it's pretty cool." He dropped gracefully to the floor, somersaulting in mid-air to land on his feet, and focused his attention on Pyrrha. "So, you're the Pumpkin Pete's mascot."

"You know, that cereal is horribly overpriced." Noire opined.

"Pretty pathetic shelf life, too." Talia added.

"Almost no nutritional value to speak of." Dante's voice was impassive.

"And judging by the taste, I'd say Pete thinks pumpkins are a type of _fish_." Tivra winced as he said it, looking slightly nauseous. "I think I'll call you Breakfast from now on."

"What?" Pyrrha asked, looking utterly baffled.

"Tivra does this a lot." Noire explained. "He'll call you by an insulting nickname until he decides you deserve better." She truned to face Tivra. "Tivra pick a new nickname for Pyrrha. That one sounds a little… suggestive." Jaune had to admit, the look of comprehension that dawned on Tivra's face was pretty funny to see.

"Ack! No! Breakfast bad! Breakfast bad name!"

"And Pumpkin's no good either, it's basically the same problem." Noire offered.

"Flake." Tivra said. "They're Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, so you can be Flake, okay, no problems?" He turned to the others. "Let's see… Boring," He pointed at Ren. "Bait," He pointed at Jaune.

"Nurse." Noire interjected, much to Jaune's relief.

"Nurse," Tivra conceded immediately. "And Hyper." He pointed to Nora. "Got it?"

"And you can be Twitch!" Nora exclaimed happily. Jaune winced; he seriously hoped Tivra didn't take offence at that.

"Twitch, huh?" He seemed to weigh it up in his head. "Fair enough." He grinned. "Pretty funny, if we're being honest."

"And she can be Cyborg!" Nora went on, pointing at Noire. Noire winced ever-so-slightly, mostly just a sharp intake of breath and the hint of a hurt expression. Dante and Talia's eyes widened, and- *SHINK!*

"Now, I should be making up a reason why my blades are out." Tivra said, his voice barely more than a whisper, and strangely shaky. "I should say I'm sharpening them, or checking the mechanisms, and just hope you take the hint. But I won't. This is a threat." His voice was a little louder, but still with a strange shaky quality to it. "Noire is sensitive about her prosthetic arms. There are some unpleasant memories attached to them." Ragged; that was the perfect word to describe his voice. "She doesn't like to feel as though she's different from everybody else." He began walking towards Nora, quickly invading her personal space. "Your little joke was pretty hurtful, Hyper. Made her feel like a _freak_." He spat the word out as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I didn't mean to…" Nora squeaked, looking unintimidated, but clearly horrified to know that she'd apparently hurt Noire so deeply.

"Which is why I'll let you off the hook. _This_ time." He was really starting to get loud. "But if _any_ of you _ever_ say something like that again, I'll rip _your_ arms off!" Jaune flinched involuntarily at that; Tivra sounded like he meant it. "And then, I'll pour boiling pitch over the stumps, so you won't bleed out before I'm _done_ with you." For a second, Jaune could have sworn they were somewhere else; somewhere hot and humid, somewhere dark, with a constant smell of decaying wood, and the sounds of buzzing insects and strange movement in the undergrowth. "I'll peel the skin off your face, careful to make sure I don't nick any blood vessels. I'll dunk your head in a barrel of brine, and then I'll _HANG YOU WITH A NOOSE MADE OF YOUR BEST FRIEND'S INTESTINES,_ _ **FROM A GALLOW BUILT USING THE BONES OF EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER CARED ABOUT!**_ "

"Tivra!" Tivra's head turned instantly to face Noire, who had raised one fist. "Bump it." Not exactly what Jaune was expecting, he had to admit. Tivra hesitated for a second. "What, you gonna leave me hanging?" She sounded like she might have been quoting someone there, but Jaune wasn't going to dwell on that. More interesting was Tivra's reaction; his eyes went wide for a second, before a smile found its way onto his face. Not a smirk, not a leer, not a predatory or sadistic grin; a smile. One with real, genuine warmth to was actually kind of creepy, given his previous facial expressions.

"Not a chance." *SHINK!* He retracted the blades. *Tink.* A fist-bump sealed the deal; he seemed to be back under control. He turned to face Nora, and… fell to his knees, looking utterly ashamed. "I can't apologise enough for that; I was way out of line. I blame those four idiots."

"Oh? And how did you reach that conclusion?" Ren asked, the hint of a warning in his voice.

"Okay, first of all; Boring, don't bother trying the intimidating voice shtick, you're not a threat to me, so it doesn't work. Just let me wallow in my shame, okay?" Ren nodded, but he looked unhappy about it. "Good. Now, to answer your question; seeing them give Velvet such a hard time put me in a really bad mood, and I was already on edge-"

"You're always on edge." Noire pointed out matter-of-factly.

"It _is_ one of your biggest weaknesses." Dante commented.

" _I was already on edge_ ," Tivra repeated pointedly. "Which made for a bad combination. To make matters worse, my little exhibition match against them was _just_ enough to get the adrenaline flowing without really _using_ it, you know? So I was all… fidgety."

"Aggressive, irritable, and looking for trouble." Talia offered.

" _Thank you_ for translating, Talia." Tivra said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That being said, I'm still the one who lost-I mean, I'm not going to shift the-it was my-aargh!" He began to pull at his hair. "Why am I so _bad_ at this?" With that he stormed out, an occasional scream of "What is _wrong_ with me?" echoing back.

"So…" Jaune began. "That was weird." _Big time. Now, on to business._ "Hey, uh… Dante? I hope you understand that I kind of have to ask…" He took a deep breath, steeling his resolve. "Is my team going to be safe around Tivra?"

"Tivra's instincts are the best I've ever encountered." Dante replied coolly. "Unfortunately, the circumstances that lead to him developing those instincts left him somewhat… high strung."

"That's one word for it." Ren said, a hint of bitterness colouring his voice. "Another would be 'psychotic'."

"Watch what you say." Warned Noire, but Ren was having none of it.

"I'm sorry, but he's clearly unstable. How can we be sure that he won't-"

" _You don't know him!_ " Noire yelled, looking furious. "You have _no idea_ what he's been through!" She was right up in Ren's face now. "You've only seen him at his worst; you think he's twitchy, angry, and mean-spirited, and okay, sometimes that's true, but you haven't seen him at his best!" A tiny smile snuck onto her face as she went on. "You've never seen his face when he calls his father, never seen him dance along to those _stupid_ movies of his. You've never gone into battle and known, without a doubt, that he had your back." Her voice grew quiet. "You've never heard him telling you that you're not a freak, that there's nothing wrong with you." With that, she walked out.

"Wow," Talia said, giggling slightly. "I think they just set a new record."

"You may be right," Dante replied, sounding somewhere between exasperated and amused. "Usually it takes at least ten minutes for new people to accidentally offend them that much."

"And tomorrow, they'll be back to normal, as if it never happened." Talia muttered, rolling her eyes.

"So they're a little moody, nobody's perfect." Dante turned to face Jaune. "And regarding your concern; Tivra's high strung, but he's dependable in his own way. The trick is to think in terms of instincts; he looks out for the pack."

"He's actually called us that a couple times." Talia commented.

"Today, you weren't part of the pack, and what Nora said hurt a member of the pack." Dante explained.

"Not just any member of the pack," Talia sniggered. "His _mate_."

"Now Talia, this isn't the time for your speculations." Dante chided, his voice patient. "Now, back to the explanation; tomorrow, you'll be temporary members of the pack, and that means you can count on him to look out for you. As long as you don't upset Noire, you'll be fine."

"And try not to call Tivra crazy," Talia added. "It bothers him more than he lets on, and you saw how Noire reacts."

"Watch what I say, got it." Jaune replied, glad to know where he stood.

"What about you?" Ren asked. "Is there anything we should know? Any delicate subjects?"

"Not really, we're both pretty thick-skinned." Dante replied. "Your files made no mention of any anti-Faunus sentiment, so we should be fine."

"And my only rule," Talia said. "Is that you don't bad-mouth me behind my back. You have something to say, say it to my face."

"So, if you don't mind my asking," Pyrrha began. "Why is Tivra so… emotional?" She finished tactfully.

"Tivra grew up in a world where the only options were to run, to fight, or to die." Dante said, completely stone-faced. "If you want to know any more, you'll have to ask him.

"Yeah, he had it rough." Talia commented, looking a shade morose. "We all did; it's what ties Team DTNT together." _That_ was a statement begging for a question.

"So…" Jaune began, not sure how to ask tactfully.

"Refugee camp." Talia stated matter-of-factly. "And as a result, I have no sense of personal space, and I don't handle being alone very well."

"Why wouldn't you be comfortable being alone?" Pyrrha asked.

"Desperate people in the camp, awful people coming in from outside." She replied casually. "Being alone is a gamble."

"Alright, that's enough for now." Dante said, putting their conversation to an end. "You still have classes today. Be sure to get good night's sleep tonight," Dante smirked slightly. "You've got a big day ahead of you."

Author's notes: Hoo boy! I have a _lot_ to cover here. Okay, let's see; how about Cardin's behaviour? I swear, there are legitimate reasons for this; one, bullies rarely change quickly, two, it ties into some stuff that will be revealed in a later story, and three, I needed an excuse for a fight scene. Speaking of which; I really liked writing that fight scene. It was fun… and now I have to explain why it didn't make Tivra a Mary Sue OC. I know, he beat up an entire team without taking any hits, but Pyrrha did that too, and Tivra has a lot more experience. True, Pyrrha needed her Semblance, but once you learn more about Tivra, I think you'll be able to accept his skill. Next up… Dante. Yeah… his name's Dante he wears red and he carries a giant sword? I wonder who he might be borrowing some cues from. Not much to say about Talia except for yes, I know it's a hugely convenient coincidence, but I like it, and if you have a problem with her orientation… I don't care. And Noire… okay, guys, I know you're probably not going to believe me, but I've had Team DTNT in my head since before Volume 3 came out. I didn't know about Neptune and Ironwood both having mechanical limbs, it wasn't my intention to rip anybody off. And next chapter, I'll be swearing blind that something in _it_ was in my head for ages, and not meant as a rip-off. Next chapter will have interactions between JNPR and DTNT, as well as backstories and development. And please folks, take it from Noire; you don't know Tivra well enough to make snap judgements. Oh, and to get a better idea of Tivra's hair, search up Steins; Gate, Rintaro Okabe. Like that, but a tiny bit longer. And… that's about it. I desperately hope you guys end upliking Team DTNT, and please review if you have something to say. Oh, and that weird description of how Tivra cracks his neck? Bad habit of mine.


	11. Chapter 11: Training

Pyrra was worried. She was worried because of one simple fact; the singing.

 _"_ _We are high atop the mountain, with hammers in the wind_

 _Lusting for blood and death again!_

 _In a flash of lightning strike, now the house of death invites you_

 _Body and soul to come within!_

 _I see the fear you have inside, you can run but never hide_

 _I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb!_

 _Nothing shall remain, not your memory or name_

 _It will be as though you never ever lived MUAHAHA!"_

Metal. Not a good sign. She knew she was right when he stormed out of the bathroom, a scowl on his face which he attempted to hide as soon as he saw her. "Okay Jaune, what's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong, why would anything be wrong?" Jaune stammered, displaying all the guile and inscrutability that the Arc family was famous for. "I'm fine, totally normal, everything's cool… Yeah." Impressive, huh?

"Jaune, you know you can tell me if anything's wrong, don't you?" It could be a pain getting Jaune to open up; he was remarkably resistant to most methods. Too patient to be irritated into talking, too stubborn to be coaxed and cajoled, and too careful to be tricked. But there was one option that was guaranteed to work; the guilt trip. _Three, two, one…_

"I'm kind of ticked off about that stuff with Tivra yesterday." Jaune admitted, right on cue. "I mean, it sounds like he had a reason to be angry, but… he threatened one of my friends, and now we have to act like nothing happened."

"No we don't." Pyrrha replied.

"But Dante and Talia said-"

"Said that Tivra and Noire would act like nothing happened." Pyrrha interrupted, feeling rather pleased with herself for coming up with a solution so quickly. "They never said we had to act the same way. If you think you need to bring it up, you can."

"If Ren doesn't beat me to it." Jaune commented. "I half expected him to go on the attack!"

Pyrrha giggled a tiny bit at that. "And then you'd have felt the need to back him up…" She began.

" _Nora_ would have felt the need to back him up to make sure Tivra didn't hurt him." Jaune corrected her. "Then I'd have stepped in to look out for my friends, and you'd have had to rescue me." He joked, his tone light.

"And then Noire would have helped Tivra," Pyrrha said, continuing the joke. "And maybe Talia and Dante would have gotten mixed up in it too."

"Good thing Ren kept his cool," Jaune concluded. "Those guys would have torn us apart if things got ugly."

"We would have done alright." Pyrrha argued.

"No, we really wouldn't have." Jaune replied. Pyrrha didn't bother arguing because, well, he was right. _And would you look at that? He's back to normal._ And with that exception, Team JNPR's morning was free of incident, and before long they were standing before Team DTNT, ready to begin their training.

Ren was feeling somewhat out of sorts. He wasn't happy, he wasn't tranquil or calm; he was wound up, angry. He'd tried all his usual methods for control; meditation, positive visualisation, cognitive behavioural therapy tricks, but nothing worked. The simple fact was, he wouldn't be able to regain his composure until he'd confronted Tivra. _Dangerous and potentially psychotic or not, he threatened Nora, and there's no way that you're going to let that slide._ He walked up to Tivra. "We need to talk." He kept his voice level, but only just.

"That so, Boring?" Tivra asked, raising one eyebrow. "Well then, let's talk."

"You threatened Nora." Ren stated. "And not just a normal threat."

"I know." Tivra sighed. "I'm rather proud of it, but at the same time ashamed. It was a good threat. Trouble is, I used it on someone who didn't deserve it." His previously constant grin was conspicuously absent. "And you all deserve an explanation. See, yesterday, well I was two weeks in to something." He started avoiding eye contact. "Something pretty stupid." A sigh. "Look, cards on the table, I was off my meds."

"You're on medication?" Ren asked. He wasn't surprised that Tivra needed some form of medication, but he was a little surprised to learn that he actually _took_ it.

"Mood stabilisers. Pretty strong ones, too. But, well, I hadn't had any incidents in a year; I mean, yeah, I had a short fuse, but nothing like yesterday." He had the decency to look ashamed. "So I… kind of got it into my head that I didn't need them. I was wrong."

"Dammit Tivra!" Noire's voice rang out. "Why do you keep doing this?" She marched up to Tivra and slapped him full across the face. "There's no shame in needing medication! _I_ need medication! So why can't you just take them?"

"They dull my instincts." Tivra muttered, staring intently at the ground and rubbing his cheek. "Might've taken a hit or two fighting those morons if I'd been medicated."

"Tivra, your instincts are sharp enough with mood stabilisers." Dante spoke up, sounding stern. "Exceptional will do; I don't need preternatural if it means you're on the verge of a breakdown all the time."

"Well, don't worry guys, I'm thoroughly doped up!" Tivra joked.

"Don't threaten Nora again." Ren said, bringing the conversation back on-topic.

"I don't intend to." Tivra said, a forced lightness to his tone.

"Good, because if you ever hurt her…" Ren trailed off.

"Oh by all means, go on." Talia encouraged him, clearly looking forward to a show.

"I'll erase you." Ren stated. "I'll wipe you out so that your family and friends won't even remember your name." Tivra raised one eyebrow.

"A fine threat directed at a deserving target." He said, sounding impressed. "I might have to stop calling you Boring if this keeps up." He took a step towards Ren. "But an empty threat's a good way to make a fool of yourself when you back down. So unless you feel like backing that up, I suggest you-" Tivra stopped mid-sentence, transfixed by Ren's pistols, which were now aimed directly at his face. Ren, being the mature and sensible person he was, would never be crass enough to derive enjoyment from the look of panic and confusion that briefly flashed across Tivra's face. Nope. Never. No matter the circumstances. Not much. Tivra grinned, not a mean-spirited or predatory grin, but still slightly feral. "Well would you look at that? Not so boring after all, Ren."

"We're running behind schedule!" Dante barked. "You can threaten each other later!"

"Sorry about this," Talia said, looking sheepish. "Dante's kind of… strict."

"While we're young!" Dante's yelled, his voice harsh. "Form up and March!"

"March… a dozen steps into the airship?" Pyrrha sounded confused.

"Yeah, Dante's a little too into discipline and military procedure," Noire sighed. "In time you'll learn to love it."

"No they won't." Tivra scoffed.

"No you won't." Noire agreed, heading to the airship in a decidedly undisciplined amble, while Talia opted for an insubordinate stroll, and Tivra selected a strut that bordered on dissidence. Given Dante's stern demeanour, Noire's sharp tongue, and Tivra's… and Tivra, Ren was expecting Jaune to be the target of considerable scorn for his airsickness. However, when Team JNPR's leader made his inevitable trip to the nearest trashcan for, shall we say, a measure of relief, they were surprisingly understanding.

"It's boats that do it for me." Dante said. "Can't stand the damn things."

"I think I might have some travel mints." Talia offered, rifling through her pack before tossing a small container to Jaune.

"Uh… thanks." Jaune said, looking perplexed. "You guys are being nicer than I expected. I was kind of expecting you to-"

"Give you a hard time?" Tivra asked, one eye cocked. "Not a chance, Nurse." He shook his head, looking ever so slightly amused. "You don't choose to be airsick, you can't control it. Giving someone grief over something beyond their control isn't really our style."

"You play the hand you're dealt," Noire added. "And yours includes a little more vomit than most."

" _Judge not your fellows by circumstance, but by word and by deed._ " Dante sounded like he was quoting something.

" _For no man may decide the circumstances of his birth, nor where the callous hand of chance may cast him._ " Jaune responded. " _That which is thrust upon a man is no insight into his character, though much may be gleaned from how he endures it. Instead, see what paths he takes, what beliefs he holds, and what friends he keeps. These are the true reflection of a man's soul, these, and nought else._ " Jaune looked, at least in Ren's opinion, somewhat satisfied with himself.

"Not bad, kid." Dante sounded very slightly impressed. " _With the armour of our order we guard our flesh, a bulwark against blade and claw. What then do our weapons guard?_ " His voice sounded like a challenge.

" _Our souls. The weapons we carry, works of the blacksmith and the engineer, these pinnacles of artifice offer protection with which to guard our souls from despair and despondency._ " Jaune clearly wasn't backing down from this… this. Ren didn't even know what he was looking at.

 _"_ _But the soul has less substance than even the mist, so how then can a sword possibly protect it? How does steel guard against despair, which has no more weight than a shadow? Where can our souls be found, that we may keep them safe from harm?_ " There was an edge to Dante's voice, previously absent.

" _In the people we hold dear. Friends and family, brothers in arms, teachers, students, lovers; all these people hold fragments of our souls, precious gems coveted by a terrible thief named misfortune. It is by our steel that we guard these gems, striking down those who threaten the people we have entrusted them to. Such is the way of a knight, the way of a warrior._ " Jaune finished, looking more than a little smug. " _Idle Musings_ by Virgil, warrior-poet of the Ordo Animalia. My dad has a first edition copy in his study."

"You know, he wrote that after hearing a similar sentiment from an Arc." Dante commented, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Something about shields and swords."

"Where did you learn that?" Jaune asked, a hint of confusion in his voice.

"From the man himself." Dante replied. "He was my teacher in the Order, before…" He trailed off, fists clenched. "Before they were wiped out."

"I heard about that," Jaune said, nodding sympathetically. "Their political enemies brought them up on some fake charges and crippled them. When the Grimm swarmed them, they just didn't have the numbers."

"What's is this 'Order' you're talking about?" Ren asked, his curiosity piqued slightly.

"The Ordo Animalia, also known as the Beast Knights, were an order of Faunus warriors who devoted their life to protecting people from Grimm. Like Hunters, but outside of any government structure. They were some of the finest men and women that Remnant's ever seen."

"Sure, if you overlook all the elitism, racketeering, and endangerment of civilians." Tivra's voice was like a knife. "After all, only _most_ of the charges were fabricated." There was a tense moment. "They still didn't deserve what happened to them, though. And I guess dad did say Virgil was a good sort."

"Virgil said the same thing about your father." Dante said, a tiny hint of warmth creeping into his voice. "And you're right, there were some bad souls mixed in with the good."

"What was that?" Nora asked Noire. "The quoting thing! What was it?"

"What two sufficiently determined men will turn anything into," Noire sighed. "A contest of masculinity that doesn't require that they take their pants off." They laughed, except for Jaune and Dante, who looked a shade embarrassed, and Ren, who didn't often laugh. But he thought about laughing.

Before long they landed, filing out into a forest. "Listen up!" Dante barked. "We'll be spending the next couple of days out here training you. Sparring, demonstrations, survival training, advice; whatever we can come up with to help you improve. Now! Into your stances!" Ren shifted into position, ready to fight, as did Jaune, Pyrrha and Nora. "Jaune; shield twelve degrees off of optimal angle, tilt it back. Left foot too far back, shift it an inch forward. Nora; hands too close together, move your right hand an inch. Ren; rotate left foot two degrees inward, right hand one eighth of an inch higher. Pyrrha; too much tension in your shoulders. At ease!" They returned to their normal posture before they could even finish addressing his complaints. "STANCE!" He barked, looking appraisingly as they entered their respective stances. "Jaune; shield tilted too far back now…" Needless to say, the next few hours went slowly.

Finally, after four hours of entering and exiting their stances, Dante was apparently satisfied. "That's probably about as good as you're going to get today," He sighed theatrically, every bit the disapproving instructor. "But I swear to Oum, Pyrrha if you don't work the tension out of your shoulders…" He trailed off.

"Hey, Jaune!" Talia called out, a mischievous grin on her face. "Amy told me you took a bunch of first aid and physiotherapy courses. Think maybe you could do something for Pyrrha?" Jaune blushed crimson, although Pyrrha's blush looked a shade darker, at least to Ren.

"Come on, Nurse!" Tivra heckled. "It's a leader's job to help his team!" After a few very awkward seconds of silence, Jaune walked up to Pyrrha and, Blushing incandescently, began to massage her neck and shoulders. It became clear after a few seconds that Pyrrha was enjoying Jaune's attentions, and Ren suspected that Jaune was having a good time as well. After a few intensely awkward minutes (seriously, have you ever tried just sitting around while one of your friends gave another of your friends a massage in front of you? There's no way to make it not weird), they fell into their stances. Dante nodded to Noire, who strode forward and fell into a stance of her own.

"Your objective is to incapacitate Noire." Dante explained. "Use any tactic at your disposal. Fight!" The next few minutes were hectic; Noire's arms were… devastating. Every punch was punctuated by an explosion originating from the point of impact; not a big explosion, but an explosion none the less. Her fighting style was nothing like as theatrical as Tivra's showboating; a simple mix of boxing and brawling, with elbows and forearm strikes (both punctuated by explosions of their own) interspersed throughout. They occasionally came close to landing hits and on one occasion, Pyrrha even managed a glancing blow, but they were losing badly.

"Okay guys," Jaune whispered as they backed away from her. "I've got an idea. I'll rush in and get in her face, then I'll go on the defensive. Ren, you provide covering fire. Pyrrha, her arms are metal, you know what to do, and Nora… smash." With a curt nod, Ren fell back and took aim, opening fire as Jaune advanced. Predictably, Noire had very little difficulty dealing with Jaune; none of his attacks came anywhere near hitting her, and she rained blow after blow on him, although he did manage to bounce a fair few off of his shield… until she ripped it out of his hands and officially declared war on his face. She dodged most of Ren's bullets, blocked the rest with her arms, and continued to trounce Jaune. "Pyrrha!" Jaune called out, signalling to her that it was time. She wasted no time, forcing Noire's arms out to the sides instantly. Her quarry pinned, Nora charged in, giggling madly, and sent Noire flying with a hammer blow.

But Noire was no pushover; while flying back, she pointed both arms at Pyrrha, turned them to their cannon form, and fired. And just like that, it was Pyrrha's turn to be sent flying. She was able to land gracefully enough, but Noire was _fast_ , and knocked Pyrrha to the ground with a running punch, before sitting astride her stomach and throwing punch after punch into her face, giving her no chance to recover enough to use her Semblance. Nora blasted her in the back with grenades, Ren opened fire with _Stormflower_ , and she just took it without reacting, too intent on dealing with the biggest threat to her.

"I'm probably going to regret this." Jaune muttered, squaring his shoulders. With that, he charged in, swinging at Noire's leg… *Thunk!* And looked somewhat surprised as his sword bounced off, accompanied by the sound of metal hitting toughened plastic. "Okay," Jaune muttered. "She has armour under her pants. Cool." On the plus side, Noire stopped hitting Pyrrha. Unfortunately, she stopped to grab Jaune by the throat. Bad news. Ren rushed in with a flying kick, only for Noire to bat him aside with her free arm. Nora charged at her, and got blasted in the face with a cannon shot.

"Don't. Touch. My. Legs." Noire intoned, her voice leaden. "They are off-limits." Judging by Jaune's face, she was squeezing pretty tight. Ren vaguely recalled reading somewhere that Aura could only offer partial protection against strangulation, and looking at his friend's face, he was inclined to believe it. Which is why he was relieved when Noire's arms suddenly shot out to her sides, glowing faintly.

Pyrrha was angry. She had plenty of reasons to be. As nice as Jaune's massage was, it was still embarrassing. Then, she'd spent a minute or so getting pummelled, and now, disgrace and infamy, Noire was strangling Jaune! No more playing nice! "Surrender." She warned Noire, but secretly hoping, just a little, that her warning would be ignored, at least for a few seconds. Jaune began to rise to his feet, looking slightly woozy.

"Here's my _surrender_." Noire spat, kicking Jaune in the face before he could even finish standing up. Pyrrha responded by pulling at Noire's arms until they began to strain.

"I'll rip them off." Pyrrha threatened, only to be rewarded with a bitter laugh.

"You heard what Tiv said about empty threats, _Flake_." She spat the insulting nickname. Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. Baiting her. Bad idea. She pulled harder, until Noire's skin began to stretch at the points where metal met flesh, and she let out a gasp of pain.

"It wasn't an empty threat." Pyrrha replied. "Any tactic, remember?"

"Fine!" Noire yelled, clearly unhappy with her situation. "I surrender! You beat the freak with the fake arms! Good for you!" Pyrrha realised that there were tears in Noire's eyes as she released her. She took off as soon as she could heading away from the group. Her anger boiling away, Pyrrha felt a pang of regret; had she gone too far? The hairs began to stand up on the back of her neck; someone was behind her.

"You _hurt NOIRE_!" Tivra growled in her ear. She turned to face him, and wished she hadn't. He looked like a wild animal; a wolfish snarl on his face, pin-prick pupils peering out of mud-brown eyes, and every tendon straining against the skin. "I warned you!" He barked, and yes, it really did sound more like barking than talking. "I warned you and I told you not to hurt her and you _did it anyway!_ " Suddenly, she was looking not at Tivra's face, but at Jaune's back, which was definitely an improvement.

"Something you should know about me," Jaune said, his voice hard and cold as he stood between her and Tivra, a physical barrier. "Is that I will never let someone hurt my friends."

"Gutsy move," Tivra snarled. *SHINK* Out popped the blades from his gauntlets. "Won't stop me."

"Stand down, Tivra." Dante's voice was level. Stern, but level, without even a hint of anger. Tivra hesitated slightly.

"She hurt Noire." He protested.

"I gave you an order." And just like that, Tivra snapped to attention, looking _terrified_.

"Standing down, sir!" He practically screamed it.

"Next time," Dante warned. "Don't push your luck."

"Permission to go and comfort Noire, sir?" There were a few tense seconds as Dante stood completely silent.

"Granted." With that, Tivra ran off. "March, soldier!" Dante barked, and Tivra transitioned to marching double-time.

"And that," Talia said. "Is presence. It's not about being the scariest person in the room, it's about being the person that the scariest person in the room obeys."

"I don't have time for soldiers who can't follow orders." Dante stated bluntly. "Tivra knows that."

"Mostly-sane, somewhat-rational Tivra knows that." Talia corrected. "Angry, vengeful, punish-all-who-make-Noire-even-slightly-unhappy Tivra is slightly hazy on the details."

"Damn fool needs to get a handle on his temper." Dante opined.

"He was just doing his usual overprotective bit." Talia protested. "You know those two have a weird relationship."

"Meaning?" Jaune asked.

"They use each other as emotional crutches." Dante stated matter-of-factly. "He makes her feel human, she makes him act human, and they both blow up at anyone who hurts the other."

"It's cute." Talia added. "In a slightly creepy, kind of unhealthy way."

"Good job fighting Noire, by the way." Dante said, changing the subject. Pyrrha got the impression that he wasn't especially comfortable talking about emotions or relationships. "You identified a weakness and exploited it effectively."

"Excuse me?" Jaune sounded confused, and more than a little annoyed.

"Was I in some way unclear?" Dante asked coolly.

"One of your teammates ran off in tears, and you're congratulating us for that?" Jaune's voice had that edge to it; a glint of steel.

"Your point being?" Dante sounded genuinely uncertain as to what Jaune was trying to say.

"My point is that a member of _your_ team, who you're _supposed_ to look out for, was crying, and you don't seem to _care_!" Pyrrha was a little ashamed to admit it, even to herself, but she… kind of liked seeing Jaune get angry. As in, she found it attractive. What was it that Weiss had said? Righteous anger looked good on him.

"Our assigned mission was to improve your skills as Hunters, everything else is a secondary concern. " Dante's voice was cold, unemotional. "Noire's distress is unfortunate, but unlikely to jeopardize the mission, especially with Tivra taking care of it. Therefore, the exercise had a positive result." Jaune stared at him for a few seconds, silent, before throwing a punch. It was a good punch, starting at the hips so he could get his whole body behind it. His arm moved correctly; 'throw from the shoulder, over the wrist, look out jerk, 'cause here's my fist!' Unfortunately, it never landed, as Dante caught it without any apparent effort. "Good punch." Dante noted. "Don't try it again."

"What is _wrong_ with you?!" Jaune shouted. "What kind of leader doesn't even care about his team?" He unsheathed his sword and swung at Dante's chest. *WHAM!* Before he could even come close to connecting, Dante sent him sprawling with a left hook.

"I used my left hand because you're inexperienced. Don't make me use my right." With that, he walked off. "I'll check the perimeter and scout for a good place to set up camp. Talia, you handle things while I'm gone."

Talia grinned. "Well, with the team's goodwill ambassadors gone…" Her grin turned devious. "Shirts off, boys. I need to know what I've got to work with. Besides," Talia winked. "I'm sure the girls could do with some beefcake." Pyrrha felt her cheeks burn with a truly staggering blush.

"If you say so." Ren replied, beginning to unbutton his tailcoat. Pyrrha heard Nora's breath hitch slightly, and then, out of consideration, decided that she _hadn't_ in fact heard it. "I don't think there'd be much point in arguing, would there?"

"Not even a little." Talia chuckled. Jaune seemed nervous.

"I dunno…" He muttered, eyes to the ground. Pyrrha found herself in two minds about the whole situation. On the one hand, she was definitely in favour of seeing Jaune shirtless again, but on the other hand, she wasn't sure she wanted to share that view. _Okay, let's look at this rationally; Ren's pancake isn't buttered (syruped?) on that side, Nora is only interested in Ren, and Talia is currently dating Jaune's SISTER, for crying out loud!_

"You should probably do it." Pyrrha said, carefully keeping her voice free of any traces of anticipation. As everyone turned to look at her, she shifted to her poker face. And unlike Jaune, _her_ poker face was effective. After all, she wouldn't have been a champion if she were unable to hide her intentions in a fight, and telegraphed all her moves. "I mean, if Talia needs to see your level of physical development, it could be dangerous to hide it." _Yes, keep it logical. No interest beyond what's best for the team, nope, no sir._ "She can't help us if she doesn't know these things."

"I guess that makes sense." Jaune conceded, pulling off his armoured hoodie, leaving only his undershirt on. _Come on Jaune, hurry it up!_ After a few more seconds of hesitation, Jaune finally removed his undershirt, slipping it off in one smooth motion. _Never getting sick of THAT view!_ Her eyes raced up and down his torso, taking in every detail. The developing abdominals and pectorals, the strong, toned arms, and those damn shoulders! She couldn't help but love Jaune's broad shoulders; they just seemed so… heroic. That sounded stupid, but… hero… broad shoulders… they just seemed to fit.

"Not bad, blondie…" Talia sounded contemplative. "And look at you, Ren…" She smirked. "Almost makes me wish my tastes included boys." She gestured for them to turn around and the two complied, apparently oblivious to how much their teammates were enjoying the show, and leading Pyrrha to know that Jaune looked pretty good from the back, too. By this point, it went without saying that Talia was definitely Pyrrha's favourite member of Team DTNT. "Okay boys, you can put your shirts back on. _Noooo! Oum, why hast thou forsaken me?_ "Alright; Jaune, You'll want to increase your exercise load with a focus on your upper arms and chest. Push-ups are your friend. Ren; forearms and core. Sit-ups for core strength, and a few tricep curls should take care of the rest. Noire can take a look at the girls later. I'd do it, but I figure you'd prefer someone who _isn't_ attracted to women, which means Noire… and possibly Dante, the jury's still out."

"Not sure if he's attracted to women?" Jaune asked.

"Not sure if he's attracted to _anything_." Talia replied casually. "Dude's like a machine."

"I noticed." Jaune replied dryly.

"Yeah, sorry about that, when Dante gets into mission mode, he kind of forgets everything except the objective." She shrugged. "Raised as part of a paramilitary organization, remember?" She sighed. "He's alright most of the time… a little uptight, but bearable. But on a missions… well, sorry about that, Jaune."

"Eh, I've been hit harder." Jaune brushed it off, prompting Pyrrha to wonder if this was Jaune trying to be nice, or just dumb machismo.

"Don't let him hear you say that." Talia warned. "He'll hit harder next time."

"Charming." Ren deadpanned.

"Ozpin didn't give us this job for our charm." Talia replied.

"I hope you don't mind," Pyrrha started. "But why _did_ Ozpin give you this job? I mean, Dante's so cold, and Tivra…" She trailed off.

"Because if Dante's mission includes keeping you guys safe, he'll fight whole armies to protect you, because Tivra, ironically enough given his opinion of empty threats, has never actually carried out one of his threats unless he was dealing with someone who deserved it, and because we're really good at the whole Hunter gig."

"You saying I'm all talk?" Tivra's voice had a forced joviality to it, like someone trying to pretend everything was okay.

"Are you saying you're _not_?" Quipped Noire. "Because if you ask me, you're just a great big pussycat."

" _Panther_. I'm a panther." Tivra protested. "Like dad."

"Sure you are." Noire rolled her eyes. "Face it Tiv, you might get all intense and scary, but at the end of the day," She turned to face him, her voice softening. "There's a part of you, under the anger, under the tension and the paranoia… that's a total chicken."

"Never change." Tivra chuckled. "So, uh…" He looked sheepish. "I guess I need to apologize again. Sorry about that Pyrrha, Jaune."

"What, no Flake and Nurse?" Jaune asked.

"You guys impressed me." He pointed to Pyrrha. "You were vicious and underhanded. I can respect that." He turned his attention to Jaune. "And you were crazy enough to stand in my way when I was angry."

"You have a messed up values system." Jaune stated.

"Eh, what can ya do?" Tivra shrugged.

"This." Pyrrha replied. Suddenly, Tivra's arms shot out to his sides and began to twist. "You're wearing metal gauntlets." Pyrrha warned. "I don't like hurting people, but that doesn't mean I won't. You try something like that again, and I'll break your arms."

"Okay, point made, you can stop now." A few seconds passed. "You can stop now!" Tivra repeated, a hint of unease in his voice. A few more seconds. "Please?" He hazarded, his tone unsure.

"Of course." Pyrrha replied, her tone sweet and an innocent smile on her face as she released Tivra's gauntlets.

"Well," Talia began. "Now that we're done threatening each other, I'd like to get to know you guys better. How's about you tell us why you all became Hunter and Huntresses."

"Okey dokey!" Nora exclaimed.

"To be fair, We'll go first. I spent a fair chunk of my childhood in a refugee camp." Talia explained. "I was there because my home was overrun by Grimm. It was horrifying. People used to attack us to steal from us, because they thought we were stealing from them, or even just because they could. I don't want that sort of thing happening to anyone else. Dante's a Hunter because he doesn't know how to be anything else. Noire?"

Noire sighed. "A Beowolf tore my arms off. It's about a fifty-fifty split between protecting people and revenge. You're up, Tiv."

"Been prey." Tivra growled. "Didn't want to be prey anymore. And that means being the apex predator. Time to share, 'Arc Angel'."

"Oh good, you know about that." Jaune muttered. "Okay, honestly, my motives used to be pretty dumb. I became a hunter because my dad was a hunter, like his dad, and so on." He paused for a second. "Also, I thought it might help me pick up chicks." He blushed. "Now though… I mostly just want to help my friends."

"Good reason." Tira observed. "Probably won't stop me making fun of you for the old reasons." He turned to face Nora. "Hyper, you're up."

"When I was little, the Grimm were the scariest thing in the world." Nora said, her voice devoid of her usual joy and energy. "I used to be afraid that they were in my closet or under my bed. Sometimes I'd have nightmares about them and wake up screaming." Pyrrha had to admit; that was unexpected. Nora? Afraid? "So I decided to get strong enough to beat them, and now I'm not scared!" _That_ was more like Nora; unbelievably straightforward and more than a little childish.

"So you're a huntress so you don't feel afraid?" Noire asked, a note of understanding in her voice.

"And so other people aren't scared!" She cheerfully replied.

"Good reason." Noire noted. "Childish, but good. Pyrrha?"

"Well, my parents were both hunters, but they never pressured me. They said that it was up to me to decide how I wanted to live my life." She smiled to herself. "My father used to say that what you do is often less important than how hard you do it."

"Not a bad motto." Tivra noted flippantly.

"And well, obviously I looked up to them, and I loved the stories I'd heard about these great heroes…" She trailed off.

"Let me guess," Jaune began. "Dragonface Shawcross and the Moon Knight?"

"Not… just them." Pyrrha muttered, looking slightly embarrassed. "My favourite was one of your ancestors actually."

"Roland?" Jaune enquired, one eye cocked.

"A noble warrior leading bold charges and fighting terrifying enemies is hard not to like." Pyrrha said, a tad dryly.

"Look out Jaune," Talia quipped. "I think _someone_ might be a bit of a fangirl." Pyrrha's blush darkened.

"Hey, cut it out, okay?" Jaune's tone was calm, but with a hint of annoyance.

"Awww, would you look at that? Arc Angel's getting all protective." Tivra teased, a wicked grin plastered across his face. "That is just _adorable_!"

"Best get a camera." Noire quipped. "That way they can have a record of their first kiss."

"Cut it _out_!" No hint of annoyance this time, just pure embarrassment.

"Okay, I'll stop." Tivra looked like he was having fun. As a result, his grin was much less disturbing than the previous ones. Less disturbing. Still a little creepy. "Okay, so, Arc Angel went from being a skirt-chasing daddy's boy to a fussy, overprotective mother hen, Hyper's working with the logic of a six-year-old, Pyrrha's gone and gotten her head muddied up with a bunch of old stories, how 'bout Ren?"

"Nora had her heart set on being a Huntress." Ren stated flatly. "I had a choice between becoming a Hunter and risking my life to keep an eye on her, or letting her go it alone, and just hoping that her team would have her back. Not a hard choice." There was a moment of silence. Ren appeared to be expecting something. He visibly relaxed his body, funnily enough. _Now why would he do something like that?_ *WHAM!* High-impact tackle-hug. _Oh. That's why._

"Aw, Ren! You're the best friend _ever_!" Nora squealed. "I'm so glad we're together!" Her eyes widened. "But not together-together! Not that you're not sweet, because you are sweet, it's just that it'd be weird, right? Would it be weird? It'd probably be weird!"

"Huh." Tivra sounded surprised, and slightly confused. "I didn't think I'd end up liking you guys so much." He appeared more than a little irritated. "How'd that happen? I don't even like myself, most of the time." His face split back into a crooked grin. "Heh, nice going."

"By the way," Talia said, as if realising something. "Noire, I need you to give Nora and Pyrrha an examination." Noire looked at Talia strangely for a second, before suddenly grinning in a way that made Pyrrha distinctly uncomfortable.

"Okay ladies, strip down and let's see what we're working with." Noire said casually.

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha demanded, feeling herself blush.

"You heard me." Noire replied, sounding as if it were the most normal thing in the world while, behind her, Tivra turned and walked away. "You can keep your underwear, if you're shy."

"You can't ask them to take their clothes off in front of us!" Jaune yelled, seemingly trapped between anger and panic.

"You guys took your clothes off in front of them," Noire replied levelly. "Turnabout's fair play."

"Come on Ren," Jaune growled. "We're leaving." With that, he marched off, Ren right behind him, pausing only to drag Talia away with them.

"Well, now that they've left," Noire began, a hint of approval in her voice. "Let's see what you've got."

Jaune's face was flushed, and he could barely here a thing over his own heartbeat. He couldn't believe the nerve of that woman! Asking Pyrrha and Nora to strip in front of everyone like that! Of all the disrespectful, insulting, mean-spirited, degrading things she could have done. Parading Pyrrha and Nora around in their underwear, for Oum's sake! Suddenly, a thought cut through his anger. Pyrrha in her underwear… He tried to keep the image out of his head, but there are some matters in which a seventeen year old boy is helpless, and hormones are never defeated easily. And, as such, Jaune was finding his mind's eye flooded with visions of long, graceful legs, of flawless skin, of, ahem, a… chest the size of which had always seemed perfectly proportioned in his opinion (not that he'd really spent any time thinking about it, nope, no sir), topped off by what he realised was probably blacker, lacier, and a great deal smaller than was actually the case. _Yeah, that wouldn't be very practical for combat. Maybe on her rest days?_ Jaune realised that he was giving serious thought to the subject of Pyrrha's undergarments, and shook his head, trying to focus on literally anything else. Unsuccessfully.

"So you guys decided not to stay for the show." Tivra chuckled. "Good call."

"Do I even want to know what you mean by that?" Jaune asked warily.

"He means that Noire was testing you." Talia interjected. "If you'd actually been dumb enough to stay there in the hopes of getting an eyeful, Noire would have given you quite the talking to."

"Then hit you." Tivra added. "Hard."

"She likes to know what sort of people she's dealing with." Talia said diplomatically.

"But be honest," Tivra started, a sly grin on his face. "You both wanted to stay, didn't you? Just a little?"

"What? NO!" Jaune yelped, beginning to wonder if Tivra could somehow see into his mind.

"Ah, so you're hoping for a private showing later on," Tivra said, nodding sagely. "I gotcha."

"Did it occur to you," Ren began coldly. "That we might respect our friends too much to act like that?"

"But you don't respect them too much to fantasise about them in a state of undress." Tivra countered smugly. "Tell me Ren, in your head, was she just standing there? I doubt it, someone that energetic, I imagine your little daydream had gotten a shade more _active_ than Arc Angel's."

"Fallen angel if you ask me." Talia chirped. "After all, he was thinking some naughty things a moment ago."

Jaune paled. "How did you know?!" He realised his mistake. "Uh, I mean… what gave you that idea?"

"It was all over your face, kid." Talia smirked. "You were practically drooling."

"True dat!" Tivra exclaimed. "Yeah, that sounded stupid." He shook his head. "Anyway, I could tell what Ren was thinking because of the way he just stared off into space without saying anything." Jaune had to admit, he had a point. Ren had the loudest silences he'd ever heard. Sometimes he couldn't even hear himself think over Ren not making any sound whatsoever.

"It's no big deal." Talia reassured them. "They're both super cute, so it's natural!"

"But you, uh, you won't _tell_ them about this, will you?" Jaune asked nervously.

"Not a chance." Talia responded. "We're not monsters."

"I'm kind of a monster." Tivra conceded. "But I'll keep this a secret."

"Thank you." Jaune sighed.

"I'll never get why you people are so repressed." Tivra muttered. "It's not right, refusing to acknowledge your instincts."

"Since I've met you," Ren saighed. "You've needed to be shot with a cannon to stop you from maiming Cardin, you've levelled an especially graphic threat at my best friend, who you yourself acknowledged didn't deserve it, and I doubt even you know what you'd have done to Pyrrha, and to Jaune for standing in your way, if Dante hadn't stopped you."

"And he skipped his meds for a month." Talia pointed out.

"Are you going to say, after all that, that your instincts guided you well?" Ren asked, the merest hint of self-satisfaction in his voice.

"Point taken." Tivra conceded. "But you both know I'm right."

"You're really not." Sighed Talia.

"So…" Jaune began. "I was wondering, Tivra…"

"Call me Twitch," Tivra replied. "I actually kinda like that one."

"Okay, Twitch… I was hoping…" Jaune trailed off.

"Why I'm crazier than a cut snake?" Tivra finished Jaune's thought rather less… diplomatically than he would have. "Sure thing." He cracked his neck in that creepy way he had after fighting Team CRDL. "I grew up in a jungle." He stated. "Never knew my biological parents. Maybe they dies in the jungle, maybe they left me to die in the jungle." His usual smile was conspicuously absent. "I was picked up by some wolf Faunus at first, bunch of hippies looking for 'a more primal existence'. They took care of me for a couple years, but they didn't know how to raise me, so once I started talking, they handed me off to a friend of theirs; a panther Faunus named Bagheera."

"Why didn't they put you into foster care, or send you to an orphanage?" Ren asked, sounding legitimately interested.

"Where we were?" Tivra asked derisively. "I would have slipped through the cracks and been forgotten, and that's if I was lucky. Anyway, Bagheera brought me up, and did a damn good job, given the circumstances." He sighed. "But a jungle's always going to be a rough place, and he couldn't keep me locked up indoors forever, so he taught me how to survive. Taught me how to run, how to hide. Taught me how to forage, to make medicines from the plants around me. I got pretty damn good at it, got cocky. Thought I was invincible." He winced with recollection "The jungle taught me otherwise. I was attacked by a Grimm I couldn't outrun or outwit. The old man says I was clinically dead for thirty seconds. He taught me to fight after that, but you don't just bounce back after something like that. I improved my instincts, I learned to fight, but I can't shake it." He shuddered. "A part of me will always be in that jungle, with that monster on my tail. Always going to be prey."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Ren replied simply.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry for a lot of things." Tivra replied. "Life can be cruel, but it doesn't mean I should be."

" _The cruelty of fate is far easier forgiven than the cruelty of man._ " Jaune quoted.

" _For fate has neither freedom nor will, whereas man may choose to be kind, and as such, has no excuse._ " Dante completed the passage, walking towards the group.

"Oh good," Talia muttered. "They're quoting."

"I was hoping they'd go back to quoting books none of us have read." Tivra said sarcastically. "It's just so delightful."

"Alright, I've found a good spot to set up camp, so let's round up the girls and have lunch before we get to business. Tivra?" Dante turned to face Tivra.

"Already texting Noire." Tivra replied casually.

"Why are we having lunch before we set up camp?" Jaune asked.

"So we don't have to clear it on an empty stomach." Dante replied.

"Clear it?" Ren asked.

"It's an ideal campsite, but it's also full of Grimm." Dante explained, as if it were barely worth mentioning.

"Good." Tivra grinned. "I'm in the mood for some of the old ultraviolence." Jaune sighed; this was going to get worse before it got better, he could feel it. But then again, that wasn't really anything new.

Author's Notes: So… I noticed some pretty mixed opinions of my OC's. Fair enough. Especially Tivra. Once again, fair enough. Upon rereading my work, I'll admit that I went overboard with him, hence some of the painfully transparent damage control. Also, quick aside; DON'T SKIP YOUR MEDS! Seriously, I pulled that stunt a couple of time when I was on anti-anxiety drugs, and it doesn't end well. If you think you no longer need them, consult whoever prescribed them in the first place. If nobody prescribed your meds, they're not meds, they're a drug addiction. After consultation, phase them out gradually by reducing the dosage. Okay, now the PSA portion is done, onto other matters. Those 'quotes' were all made up just for this story, so please, tell me if they're suitably poetic. I hope you're liking the team a little more, and in case you couldn't Tell, Tivra is Mowgli. Dante is… not really at all like Dant Alighieri, more like a Teutonic knight. And I have NOTHING for the other two. If anyone knows any fairytales or folktales that fit Noire and Talia, please share. So, yeah, I was really going for a sort of 'damaged goods' feel to this team. PTSD, permanent disfiguring injuries, that sort of thing. More eye candy for Pyrrha, and some for Nora too! And I'll just throw this out there; it's fun to write Jaune thinking naughty things. That's about it, sorry this one took so long, and if you don't like Team DTNT, don't worry; the next chapter is their last, barring some small mentions. Oh, last few details; let's see if anybody knows the name of the song at the start, and if anyone gets who Dragonface and the Moon Knight are, and I hope someone can tell me why I chose the name Roland.


	12. Chapter 12: Surprises

It only took Noire a minute to bring Nora and Pyrrha to the rest of the group, and soon they were eating lunch. Lunch, it turned out, came in the form of military-style MRE's with chemical heating coils on the bottoms of the packs. They were… food. Technically. Pyrrha's mind was on something other than food or, depending on your opinions of MRE's, it could be said that her mind was on something other than something other than food.

"Jaune?" She hated how hesitant her voice sounded.

"Yeah, Pyrrha?" Jaune responded casually.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"For what?" Jaune asked, sounding perplexed, and making Pyrrha wish he wasn't quite so cute.

"Earlier, when Tivra was acting all…" She trailed off, caught between tact and honesty.

"Crazy!" Tivra, who Pyrrha only then realised had been listening in on their conversation, supplied.

"…What he said, you stood in his way." Pyrrha said. "And then, when Noire told me and Nora to…"

"Strip." Jaune supplied, with a blush to rival the one Pyrrha could feel darkening her face.

"You got angry about it, you left." She could barely raise her voice above a whisper, and she wasn't sure why.

"You should have seen the look on his face when he stopped to think about what he'd walked away from!" Tivra joked. "Looked to me like he was treating himself to some _very_ interesting mental images." Jaune's blush transitioned from merely crimson to utterly luminescent.

"Please stop talking." Jaune pleaded.

"Not happening." Tivra replied cheerfully.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you." Pyrrha said, trying to bring the conversation back on track. "For being a gentleman."

"Pyyrha," Jaune had a slight frown on his face and a hint of confusion in his voice. "You don't have to thank me for that, okay? I don't need a thank you for basic decency." Pyrrha honestly didn't know what to say to that.

"Hey kid," Tivra interrupted again. "Hate to break it to you, but that only really applies to walking away from a free show. Facing down a psycho like me to protect someone else ain't just basic decency, although it would be nice if it were."

"It's kinda like what I said back when my parents visited," Jaune explained. "I'm more afraid of losing you than I am of anything happening to me."

"Smooth." Tivra smirked. "Looks like blondie's got game." Right at that moment, as crass as Tivra had put it, Pyrrha couldn't quite manage to disagree.

"Well, I'm thanking you whether you like it or not, Jaune. You're a lot braver than you give yourself credit for." Then, feeling unusually bold, Pyrrha decided to do something rash. She walked up to Jaune and, fighting down her nerves, planted a tiny, chaste kiss on his cheek before walking away, ostensibly to talk to Rean and Nora, but really to hide her blush from Jaune.

Jaune couldn't talk. He couldn't move. He _certainly_ couldn't think, inasmuch as thinking involved anything outside of the half-second of his life that he was now fairly confident would just replay in his head forever. After a few seconds, he finally regained enough control to slowly raise his hand and touch it to his cheek. "Y-you're… welcome." He stammered. He was dimly aware of some sort of noise nearby, but it didn't seem important enough to pay any attention to it, or even try to work out what it was. *WHAM!* Jaune fell to the ground, sent sprawling by a kick to the side of his head. "What the heck?!" Jaune screamed at Tivra, who was lowering his leg.

"You with us again?" Tivra asked casually, as though he _hadn't_ just kicked Jaune in the head.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Jaune demanded angrily.

"You were spacing out there, buddy." Tivra explained. "I tried doing things the easy way, but you didn't react much to words."

"So you kicked me?" Jaune asked, utterly baffled by Tivra's apparently insane logic.

"It worked, didn't it?" Jaune hated the fact that he didn't actually have anything to say to that.

"Jaune, up front!" Dante barked. "Tivra, stop messing around!" After glaring at Tivra, Jaune scurried off to see what Dante wanted.

"You called for me?" Jaune asked.

"Indeed I did." Dante replied dispassionately. "I wanted to talk to you about tactics for this skirmish."

"Oh," Jaune said flatly, having expected Dante to chew him out over something or other. "Well, I was thinking that my team could-"

"You misunderstand me," Dante interrupted him. "I called you here so I could talk _to_ you, not _with_ you."

"Excuse me?" Jaune asked, not sure what Dante meant, but with an idea he wasn't happy about.

"Don't talk, just listen." Dante clarified. "You might learn something."

"Nice." Jaune muttered. "That's- that's real nice."

"Your team will be acting in a supporting role for this engagement." Dante continued, ignoring Jaue's comments completely. "My team can handle the heavy combat without help, so you focus on the outliers."

"With all due respect, my team can handle themselves just fine!" Jaune protested.

"Is that why one of them nearly died?" Dante shot back, prompting Jaune to restrain himself from taking a swing at him. _It's not like you'd achieve anything. He'd knock you on your butt and act like nothing happened._

"Hey, we were working on bad intel there!" Jaune countered. "That fight was way beyond anything that we should have been assigned."

"You seem to have forgotten." Dante stated calmly. "I brought you here because I wanted to talk _to_ you. Nothing you say will change my decision, and don't disobey me without good reason." With that, he walked over to Tivra and began to berate him for 'unprofessional conduct while preparing to enter a hot zone'.

With a sigh, Jaune headed back to tell his team the plan. They… weren't fans. "So he's basically decided to treat us like children." Pyrrha stated unhappily.

"Pretty much." Jaune sighed. "I don't think Dante has a lot of faith in us."

"I take it he hasn't read our transcripts?" Ren inquired.

"No, he's read them," Jaune began awkwardly, already dreading the path their conversation was about to go down. "And he, uh, still wants us to stick to the outliers." He flinched when he saw the looks on his friends' faces. "It's cause of what happened last time."

"Nora's injury?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Jaune confirmed miserably. "Uh, what are you doing?" He asked as Ren began to walk away.

"I'm going to have a talk with Dante." Ren responded calmly.

"Don't bother." Tivra, who was idly standing on the underside of a tree branch, having somehow gone completely unnoticed, advised. "He doesn't change his mind. Ever."

"It's not right." Jaune protested. "We ended up fighting way more Grimm than we'd been expecting, and then we were ambushed!"

"It's not fair!" Nora agreed. "I was the only one to get hurt, so you shouldn't punish the others!"

"That's not why Dante has you slated for a support role." Tivra replied. "You could have had a better record than us, and he'd still have stuck you as backup."

"What?" Jaune asked, confused. "Why?"

"Because he's never worked with you before." Noire explained, walking into the conversation. "And as far as he's concerned, that's all there is to be discussed."

"He didn't trust us either, back when we started out." Tivra offered. "It was only after he knew what we could do that he decided we were worth having around. Just do as he says this time, okay?"

"Alright, enough chit-chat!" Dante yelled. "Into positions!" The clearing that Dante led them to was, in all fairness, quite nice. The ground was flat and even, it was a reasonably defensible position, a solid place to make camp. Of course, it was also, as Dante said, full of Grimm. "Alright, I'm thinking Gamma pattern." Dante said, to nods of apparent approval from his team. "And as for you guys," He nodded towards Team JNPR. "Back us up. Try not to die." With that, Dante nodded to his team, and they leapt into the clearing.

Jaune has to admit, they were impressive. Dante hacked through Grimm like they were made of paper; one swing, one kill. Tivra and Noire fought side-by-side as if they shared a brain; whenever one of them had to leave themselves open in order to attack, the other covered them seamlessly, to the point where, at least as far as Jaune could tell, neither were ever left even remotely vulnerable. Talia provided heavy support, blasting Grimm to pieces with explosive shells from her cannon and, when a Grimm actually managed to somehow get close to her, she simply cut it down with the long blade running along the underside of her weapon's barrel, before continuing to fire. After taking a moment to consider the situation, Jaune pointed his team towards a cluster of Beowolves and Creeps that was moving in from the south.

"Okay guys, let's do this." Jaune said, trying his best to sound professional and confident. "I'll head in and fight up close. Pyrrha, you're with me." She nodded. "Ren, Nora, you lay down fire support until I tell you to close in." Their plan determined, Team JNPR got to work. Things went well, honestly. Jaune suspected it may have been his imagination, but it seemed to him that Pyrrha wasn't having to protect him as often as usual. Pyrrha was, of course, doing incredibly, Ren was laying down a steady stream of rapid-fire punishment, focusing more on wounding Grimm and making them easier to deal with than killing them. And Nora… well, she wasn't being especially tactical, but then again, when you've got a grenade launcher, it's less about tactics, more about finding a cluster of enemies you can blow up without hurting your friends, and Nora was pretty good at that.

"Look out, Blondie!" Tivra's voice rang out, an instant before a blade sailed past Jaune's face. He turned and, of course, there was an Ursa behind him, with a blade lodged in its shoulder that looked like one he had last seen sticking out of one of Tivra's gauntlets. And then it exploded. "Our team name fits." Tivra said, and, even while he stared at the ruined body of the Ursa, Jaune knew that he had a devilish grin on his face. "We all have a way to make things go boom." As if to illustrate Tivra's point, Dante's sword split along its length, shifting into a massive bow, with a string that appeared to be composed of flickering light with, Jaune noticed upon closer scrutiny, particles of Dust suspended in it. As Jaune watched, he drew it back, creating a straight line running between the 'string' and the bow proper, and… released it, sending what looked more like a bolt of lightning than an arrow flying into the hip of a particularly large Beowolf, blowing its legs clean off.

Beyond that, the fight was fairly uneventful. Jaune called Nora and Ren into the melee after a few minutes, and there weren't really any noteworthy moments except for one, when a Beowolf had leapt at Nora's back, only for Ren to intercept it. He slipped between its arms, getting in close. He held one pistol to its throat, one to its chest and, as Jaune watched, emptied both. Jaune made a mental note to make sure he never made Ren angry. The fight was over in a few minutes, with no injuries whatsoever. All in all, it went well.

"What was that sorry display?" Or not, apparently. "You mean to tell me that you can't do any better than _that_?" Jaune had already decided that he didn't much like Dante, but at this point, he was actually starting to think he preferred Tivra.

"Do you mind telling us what we did wrong?" Ren asked, making Jaune feel vaguely guilty, since he felt like that was his job.

"I'm not surprised you don't know, seeing as how you didn't pay any attention to the battlefield outside the part that Nora was in." Dante rebutted. "And Jaune, your plan was basic and inflexible, to say nothing of your actual performance in combat." Jaune cringed slightly at that. "Pyrrha, you try to be everywhere at once when you'd be more useful if you just focused on one front." Pyrrha shrugged, as if to say 'fair enough'. "And then, there's Nora."

Nora felt a tiny buzz of nervousness at that. Dante wasn't what she'd call _easy_ to read, but Nora had grown up with Ren, so she was used to people who were difficult to read. And honestly, he didn't seem to make any effort to hide things like disapproval, which she heard plenty of as he said her name.

"Do you even know how to defend?" Dante asked, cold and slightly venomous. "Because you left yourself wide open for basically that entire fight."

"No I didn't!" Nora protested.

"That Beowolf would have sent you flying if Ren hadn't intercepted it." Dante countered. "And that wasn't the only time you had a close call."

"But I didn't get hurt!" Nora pointed out.

"But you could have." Dante rebuked.

" _Should_ have." Tivra interjected. "Nora, if you keep fighting like that, you've only got a few years at most until someone guts you again." Nora felt her stomach begin to clench. "Not much fun, is it?" His usual selection of grins, smirks, sneers and leers were absent, and his tone was so deadly serious, Nora could only nod, as she tried to fight down a feeling of rising nausea. "It hurts. Hurts to move, hurts to talk, even hurts to breathe. But you breathe anyway, because you know what'll happen if you stop." Her head was starting to swim, and she was having trouble breathing. "But then, after enduring the pain for a while, an idea finds its way into your head." _How does he know this? Can he read minds? But he already showed you his Semblance. Does he have two? Can people have two? Is that a thing?_ "Every breath hurts more than the last, so you start thinking; why not… stop? Not for long, of course. Just skip a breath or two, get a chance to brace yourself." He leaned in close. "And that's when you know, just _know_ , that you're about to die. Because that idea sounds better and better, and as soon as you decide to roll with it, you're gone." Nora could feel herself trembling; why was she so cold all of a sudden? "Just. Like. That." She cringed involuntarily.

"Stop that." Ren's voice was calm. Too calm, to Nora's ears. "What gives you the right to-" * _ZIIIIIIP!_ * All of a sudden, Tivra's shirt-jacket-thing was hanging open, revealing taut muscle, ribs Nora felt confident she could count…

"The right to what? Speak from experience?" …And four huge, slightly curved scars across his belly. "I kind of thought that was my job." Nora found herself staring at the scars, wondering what happened to leave him like that. "I know I told you guys about this. Kind of." A look of realisation flashed across his face. "Oh, I didn't tell the girls, did I?" He inhaled sharply, a sort of reverse sigh. "Okay, abridged version: grew up in the jungle, learned how to survive, got cocky, Grimm nearly killed me, turned me into psychological bomb-site. And this is the physical evidence." He said, pointing to the scars. "Ever heard of a Khan?" Nora shook her head. "Grimm. Big cat. Tiger. Nasty." He shuddered slightly. "Gutted me about ten years ago. I thought of skipping a breath. Gave it a shot. Spent thirty seconds dead." He shot Nora a glare. "You need to learn some defensive skills."

"I need to learn some defensive skills." Nora agreed.

"You can have some technical training later," Dante said. "First things first, Tivra's helping you to improve your instincts."

"Alright," Tivra said, sounding unusually calm and clinical. "There's no way we'll have time to get to the advanced stuff, so let's just work on your powers of observation." The next hour and a half was spent doing just that; Tivra would have them sit still and take in the world around them (as well as a few extra little things to keep an eye or ear out for courtesy of his team), and then quiz them on what they saw. Quiz them on how many time Noire had circled them, how many push-ups Dante did, which trees Tivra had walked up, how many different bird calls there were, whether or not anything had moved in the bushes to their left, and so on. But the one that stood out to Nora was the song. It was called 'All the Little Angels'. Dante said it was an old soldier's song, used to keep time while marching.

"How do they rise up, rise up, rise up? How do they rise up, rise up high?" Dante sang, apparently not trusting Tivra to get it right.

"They Rise heads up, heads up, heads up! They rise heads up, heads up high!" Nora sand along with her friends. They went through every single verse of the song, causing some very interesting parts of the angels that rose up in later verses. And then Nora noticed something odd. "Why does this song make Dante sad?" She asked.

"It's a _soldier's_ song." Talia replied. "He's thinking about the people who aren't here to sing along."

"Moving on," Dante said, his voice sounding slightly strained, as if he was holding something in. "It's time to focus on technical skills. Nora, Noire and Tivra will teach you some defensive techniques, while Talia and I put you three through some drills."

Pyrrha had to admit; Dante might have been colder than a snake-venom ice-cream, but he definitely knew what he was doing. The drills he put them through were strenuous, but never pushed them too far. During a short break between drills, Jaune turned to her.

"Hey Pyrrha, can I ask you something?" Jaune asked.

"Ask away." Pyrrha replied, smiling warmly.

"Okay, well, I was kind of wondering…" He blushed slightly before continuing. "Why do you always seem to know how I feel?"

"I'm your friend, Jaune. Why wouldn't I try to know how you feel?" Pyrrha replied, confused by Jaune's question.

"Yeah, and you've always been good at it, but recently you got _really_ good. Like, mind-blowing." Pyrrha felt a little thrill in the back of her mind at the idea that Jaune found her in any way mind blowing. _You know, that's not the only way you could blow his mind._ Suddenly, she found herself wishing she hadn't read that book Blake gave her. _Chapter thirteen him! Or chapter twenty-four! Heck, chapter eight would be enough._ As… educational as it had been, it was leading to distracting thoughts. _Five minutes of chapter seven? Please?_ Thoughts she really wasn't ready to deal with at the moment. _The last two pages of chapter eleven, nothing else. You'd see more action watching two fourteen-year-old introverts on their first date!_

"Well, Jaune…" Pyrrha began hesitantly, trying to focus while drowning out the ideas flickering through the back of her mind. "Truth be told; I can tell by hearing you sing in the shower."

"I knew it!" Jaune crowed. "So what, you can tell when I'm angry because I start belting out Manowar?"

"They're the ones who do those songs about battle and killing, right? And when you're excited, you sing a lot of pop-punk." She gave him a nervous grin. "There's a whole code, and I've worked it out."

"Huh, I never noticed that before." Jaune replied.

"Back to drills!" Dante barked, signalling the end of their break. After a few more hours of drills, it was beginning to get dark, and Dante called an end to the day's training. Tivra and Noire had apparently decided the same thing, as they were already sitting down with Nora. "How's her progress?" Dante asked.

"Better than I expected." Noire replied professionally. "She's been picking up techniques faster than we can teach them to her." Nora beamed at that.

"She should survive a while." Tivra said, an unusually sincere smile on his face.

"Rare praise indeed." Talia commented. With that, they all sat down to dinner, where Pyrrha found herself pleasantly surprised.

"This certainly tastes better than lunch did." She commented, enjoying the fact that she didn't have to actually force herself to swallow. After a moment, the entirety of Team DTNT began to grin, even Dante.

"Lunch was a hazing ritual." Talia stated matter-of-factly. "We always feed rookies the worst MRE's for their first meal with us."

"Old soldier's joke." Dante added, a wry smile on his face.

"You mean you made us eat that nasty stuff as a joke?" Jaune demanded.

"In our defence, we were eating the same garbage as you." Tivra chuckled.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Noire moaned, looking slightly nauseous.

"Alright, back to business." Dante said, serious as ever. "Pyrrha, Nora and Ren; you three will do some firing drills with Talia. Jaune, I'm giving you some one-on-one tactical advice. Tivra and Noire will set up the tents, then patrol the perimeter."

Jaune was a little nervous about talking tactics with Dante, what with Dante calling his earlier plan basic and inflexible, along with the simple fact that he didn't much enjoy the idea of talking with Dante one-on-one. "So, uh, tactics, huh?"

"I'll be blunt," Dante said. "You have enough talent to be worth my time, but you're still too green."

"Oh," Jaune said, surprised. "Well, that wasn't as bad as I expected." He admitted shyly. "I was kind of expecting you to tear into me." At this, Dante cocked an eyebrow.

"To what ends?" He asked. "What could I possibly achieve by harassing you over a lack of experience?"

"With all due respect, that didn't seem to stop you earlier." Jaune noted, shocked by his own boldness.

"That was necessary." Dante replied calmly. "I needed to make sure you'd listen. And now I know you're listening and taking everything seriously, I can be civil."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense?" Jaunconced hesitantly.

"Are you saying that or are you asking?" Dante enquired.

"Can't it be both?" Jaune asked earnestly.

"Fair enough." Dante grinned almost imperceptibly. "But I digress. Your biggest tactical weakness is an inability to adapt and respond to rapid changes in combat." Jaune had to admit, Dante was definitely making sense.

"Okay, so how do I improve that?" Jaune asked, eager to learn. "Like, how could I have handled that fight better?"

"Well, for a start, you should have been more specific when you called Ren and Nora into CQC." Dante began. "They'd have been more effective as a flanking force, but instead they just joined you and Pyrrha in the middle."

"Should I have told them to split up and hit both flanks at once?" Jaune enquired.

"Oum no!" Dante cried out, seemingly horrified by the idea. "They'd have been much too vulnerable!" He shook his head. "No, you definitely made the right call by having them stick together; it's always better to fight with someone watching your back." Jaune felt a little encouraged by that; it was good to know he'd gotten something right. "And your basic plan was perfectly serviceable, but the devil's in the details."

"Details?" Jaune had to admit, he was interested; Dante very clearly knew more about tactics than he did, so he saw this as a great opportunity.

"Ren and Nora were too exposed in their firing positions." Dante supplied. "They were just standing out in the open. They would have been safer taking up positions in the treeline, or serving as outriders."

"Outriders?" Jaune felt sure that he'd heard the word before, but he couldn't seem to remember the exact meaning.

"A mobile force providing support." Dante clarified. "They could have circled the Grimm whle laying down fire support, making them a difficult target to corner." Jaune nodded in understanding.

"I think I'm starting to get it." He said happily.

"Good," Dante replied. "Because we've got a lot more to cover."

In the end, they spent a full hour talking about tactics, during which Dante recommended a dozen different books to Jaune, ranging from tactical manuals to historical works to a philosophical treatise. By the time they were done, Jaune felt the tiniest bit dizzy; Dant had given him a lot of information to digest, and he had a feeling that he'd need a while to sort it all out. Suffice to say, he was glad that he'd been allowed to record the bulk of Dante's advice on his scroll, and he was fairly relieved when Talia brought his friends back into the clearing.

"We're done for today." Talia said cheerfully. "They're actually pretty good shots, so I only really needed to give them a couple pointers."

"Good to hear." Dante replied. "Now we just need to wait for Noire and Tivra to come back."

"Well, seeing as you sent those two off together, they're probably taking their time." Talia joked. "And our bet still stands; if they come back and there's evidence that they were making out you owe me five hundred lien."

"I'm telling you, it's never happening." Dante argued. "They'll never get over their issues enough to hook up."

"You say that," Talia grinned. "But trust me, it's just a matter of time."

"A matter of time until what?" Tivra called out, walking into view with Noire.

"Until we end up being called down to the police station to bail you out." Talia smirked.

"You know," Noire sighed. "She's not wrong."

"Alright," Dante said, all business. "Time for bed. Team JNPR; you'd better work out shifts."

"Shifts?" Jaune asked, unsure of Dante's meaning.

"Sleeping shifts." Dante explained. "Who's sleeping, who's keeping watch."

"Oh," Jaune replied. "Well, I guess we'd better work that out. I'll take first watch." He said decisively (well, he _hoped_ he sounded decisive).

"I'll take second!" Nora yelled.

"Third watch is fine by me." Pyrrha offered.

"And that leaves me on fourth." Ren said.

"That didn't take long." Tivra observed. "I remember it taking _ages_ for us to work out shifts the first time round."

"That's because you and Dante kept arguing over who took first watch." Noire pointed out.

"Can we please just go to bed?" Talia groaned. At that, the two groups, sans their volunteers for first watch (Dante, big surprise), headed to their tents. And it was then that Jaune noticed something odd.

"You all sleep in separate tents?" He asked.

"I shared a tent with Tivra once." Dante growled. "Never again. He thrashed around so much in his sleep, I thought he was dying."

"Talia sleep-cuddles." Noire said icily. "Intimately."

"Yikes!" Jaune exclaimed. "Say no more." And with that his teammates retreated to their tents, leaving Jaune and Dante to keep watch. Jaune doubted he'd ever encounter anything quite as boring as those few hours; Dante resisted any attempt Jaune made at starting a conversation, instead alternating between patrolling the campsite and maintaining his weapon. Needless to say, he was glad to see the end of his shift, as he was on the verge of falling asleep from sheer boredom. As it was, when Nora came to relive him, he shuffled into his tent and, just seconds after crawling into his sleeping bag, drifted off to sleep.

Ren had to admit, watch duty hadn't been as bad as he'd expected. Of course, he'd been half expecting to end up with Tivra, who would have been… somewhat unpleasant to spend three hours with. As it was, he'd been sharing his watch shift with Noire, who beyond some light conversation, seemed perfectly happy to leave Ren to his thoughts. There had been a couple of little surprises, accompanied by the sort of look that told Ren he absolutely hadn't seen what he thought he'd seen, but beyond, that, it had been pleasingly uneventful. When the time came, Noire shot Ren one last 'tell no-one what you saw' look, and set about waking her team up. After a moment, Ren got to work doing the same, and the day began.

Breakfast was tolerable, and conversation during breakfast was enjoyable enough; Ren was surprised when Tivra started to get involved in a conversation with Nora about the potential meaning of her dreams, only to transition into a joke that Ren hated to admit was at least clever, if not actually all that funny. After breakfast, they were put through drills; Tivra honing their instinct, weapon drills, and firing drills during which Jaune talked tactics with Dante, with some sparring before lunch.

"This is pretty good." Jaune commented through a mouth full of some sort of curry. Ren had to admit, he was right. The curry MRE (yes, it was just labelled 'curry') was definitely the best they'd had thus far. Team JNPR had started eating first and, as Ren watched (purely due to the fact that looking at people was more interesting than looking at curry), they began to open their MRE's. However, as soon as Noire opened her, a rancid stench filled the air.

"Dante," Noire began calmly. "Who did you tell to pack our stuff?"

"I had Talia do it." Dante replied.

"Unsupervised?" Noire asked, sounding a lot less calm. "Even the food?"

"Oh." Dante's face fell. "My mistake." Suddenly, Tivra's arms shot out to the side, holding his untouched meal under Noire's nose.

"I think I'll go foraging." Tivra said. "Jaune, Ren; with me. You guys just got volunteered for survival training followed by guy talk." With that, he walked off, followed shortly by Jaune. Ren remained seated, and continued to eat his lunch.

"Hey Ren, aren't you coming?" Jaune asked. Ren finished his lunch. Ren got up. Ren Joined Jaune to face the horror of Tivra's 'guy talk'.

Nora felt uncomfortable in the silence that followed the departure of all the boys sans Dante, but she had no idea why. "Well, if they're having a guy talk, I'm calling a girl talk." Talia stated matter-of-factly. "Dante, move it." Nora couldn't help but giggle as Dante left without arguing. " _So_ ," Talia began as soon as Dante had left. "I'd say you girls have some pretty potent crushes." Nora nodded enthusiastically, but after a few seconds, she noticed Pyrrha's discomfort.

"What gave you that idea?" Pyrrha laughed awkwardly.

"You know," Noire began lazily. "If you'd been staring at blondie's butt any harder, I'm fairly confident you would have burned a hole is his pants." Pyrrha's reaction was certainly fun; she turned what, in Nora's opinion, was a particularly nice shade of pink, and just sort of made noises for a while.

"Nothing to be ashamed of." Noire observed idly. "Kid's kind of cute."

"That is true." Pyrrha shyly admitted. "And he's really sweet, and he's braver than he gives himself credit for, and-"

"Easy girl!" Talia laughed. "You don't have to justify it! I'm dating an Arc too; I get the appeal." She leaned closer to Pyrrha. "But what you're not getting is that you need to pick up the pace."

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha asked, clearly confused.

"I heard about the 'Arc Angel' incident." Talia explained. "Saving a teammate's life? He might not know it, but that raised his social standing big time. Made him a hero."

"I never thought about it like that." Pyrrha muttered.

"And what he did to the idiot made him an even bigger deal." Noire noted.

"You heard about what happened with Cardin?" Nora asked.

"It was kind of a big deal." Talia commented. "And Noire's right; it raised his standing even higher. And you need to worry, because now he's not a loser."

"He was never a loser!" Pyrrha protested.

"Of course not," Talia assured her. "I just mean that now he's no longer going to be _treated_ like a loser by everyone in Beacon. Especially the girls."

"Oh." Seeing realisation dawn on Pyrrha's face was, to Nora at least, equal parts funny and upsetting.

"Yeah. Oh." Talia's voice was sympathetic. "And it's only going to get worse; Arcs tend to sort of bloom at eighteen, or at least that's what Amy told me. He'll shoot up a few inches, his jawline'll improve, he'll gain muscle faster, the works. Funny thing about suddenly being more popular and better looking; it works wonders for a person's confidence. You need to seal the deal before anyone can beat you to it."

"I just don't know if he likes me like that." Pyrrha said.

"Sure because what sort of freak would be into a beautiful, intelligent girl who's always looking out for him, and who he's come to rely on?" Talia's voice dripped with sarcasm, to the point where Nora fancied she could see it forming a little puddle of sarcasm at her feet. "Trust me, he's into you."

"Not much else to say about that." Noire murmured. "So let's move onto you." She turned to face Nora. "You didn't even bother trying to bluff."

"Nope!" Nora exclaimed happily. "I like Ren!"

"Why?" Noire enquired idly.

"Well, he's really smart, and handsome, and nice, even if he doesn't like to show it, and-"

"I'm just going to stop you there in the interests of us ever finishing this conversation." Talia chuckled. "We get the picture. And your reason for not telling him?"

"Well, I mean, we've been together for so long; not together-together." Nora babbled. "And I mean it'd just be weird, right? Wouldn't it be weird? And besides, I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me like that, and anyway, I'm too weird for him and-"

"Stop right there." Noire said, her voice hard. "Before I get fed up with your lame excuses and start slapping you." She closed in on Nora, making her feel just a _teeny-tiny bit_ nervous. "It's not too weird, _you're_ not too weird, and I don't think you believe that garbage about him not liking you like that anymore than I do." She scowled, and Nora suddenly felt afraid. "I get that you're scared of rejection, I get that you're worried that things could change in a way you're not ready for, and I get that you're terrified that t could ruin your friendship, but I'm done listening to half-baked excuses!"

"But what if he doesn't want to be my friend anymore after I ask him?" Nora wailed. "I'd lose my best friend, and then we'd be all weird talking to each other, and it'd hurt the team, and we'd mess up, and then one day we'd all die and it'd all be my fault!"

"That…" Noire began, giving Nora a look of disdain. "Was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." She reached forward, and lightly cuffed Nora across the top of her head. Given her metal arms, this hurt. "He's been your friend this long, he's not going to stop over something like that."

"Why don't you tell that to yourself sometime?" Talia asked, grinning evilly.

"Yeeaaaah!" Nora drew the word out. "I remember! You were walking really close to Tivra when you showed up and he beat up Team CRDL!" She grinned; this was fun! "And last night, when I was on watch with Tivra-" Noire's eyes widened in shock.

"Please, Oum, no." Noire groaned. "Not that."

"You showed up a couple hours in." Nora felt her grin widen; after all, she had something of a mean streak, and anyway, this had just been so cute. "You looked kind of upset, and really tired…"

"Have mercy." Nora wasn't sure if that was directed at her or not, but she continued regardless.

"And you just sort of shook Tivra's shoulder, and curled up to sleep next to him, with his arm wrapped around you." Nora finished. "It was super cute!"

"I had a nightmare, okay?" Noire blurted out angrily. "Kind of a side effect of the whole 'having my arms ripped off' thing."

"But you only ever go to him after a nightmare, because you like him, ergo you're a hypocrite." Talia countered.

"You…" Noire began angrily. "Are completely right." She sighed. "He never treated me like a freak, okay? He treats me more like a normal person than my parents do these days. And he's sweet when he's not having a freakout, okay? And there's no way he'd ever be interested in a freak like me, so let's just _drop it!_ " There was a silence. Like a fool, Nora decided to fill it.

"I think he really likes you." Nora said plainly.

"Yeah, well, I wish you were right," Noire sighed. "But Tivra's never been one to hold back. If he wanted me, I'd know. You girls have a chance at happiness. Take it, for the sake of the people who never got a chance."

Ren had to admit; Tivra knew his stuff when it came to foraging. He'd already taught them the best ways to be sure what berries were safe to eat (if in doubt, break one open and rub the juice on your arm; if you get a rash, don't eat it), how to tell the difference between the local wild mushrooms that were edible and the poisonous toadstools, how to dig for tubers, what leaves and grasses in the area were fit for human consumption and, slightly more distressingly, how to clean and gut a snake so that it's ready to cook. "Of course," Tivra said mournfully. "No matter what you do, a foraged meal's still liable to taste lousy. Man, that curry would have been so good." Suddenly, he clapped his hands loudly and brightened up. "Okay, survival lesson over; time for guy talk."

"Great." Ren muttered.

"Funny thing about guy talk; it only ever seems to cover a few subjects; sports, movies, TV, cars and women are the favourites." Tivra grinned and cracked his neck. "Sports bore me, it's distinctly unlikely that we watch the same sort of movies, it's been four months since I last watched TV, and I have no interest in cars beyond knowing what looks good. So, let's talk girls." Ren felt his pulse race at that; this was unlikely to be good. "Look, I'm in the business of mincing Grimm and very occasionally people, not words. Jaune, you've a powerful crush on Pyrrha." Out the corner of his eye, Ren saw Jaune blushing profusely and, to his mild surprise, nodding. He'd expected Jaune to at least make an effort to deny it. "And Ren, you are of course in love with Hyper."

"Her name is Nora." Ren said impassively. "And I'm not in love with her."

"Did you not just hear what I said about mincing words?" Tivra asked. "You can't fool me buddy; I already knew how to tell if you were lying by lunch _yesterday_." Ren didn't cringe at that last detail, but it was a close-run thing. He'd already been having more trouble than usual maintaining his usual calm due to fear of detection by Nora, and Tivra was _very_ good at irritating him.

"I can't stop you from thinking that," Ren replied coolly, while internally he was on edge. "But the fact is that you're wrong."

"Okay then," Tivra growled. "If you're going to play it coy, I'll go right for the kill; tell me one thing you can imagine doing with your life without her being in it." Ren opened his mouth to reply… and shut it again. _Let's see there's… no, she's kind of important to that idea. How about… never mind._ "You can't even imagine dying without her being there." _That's ridiculous, there's… oh. Oum damn it, he may be right. Dying in her arms, dying to protect her, dying with her at your bedside, dying alongside her fighting impossible odds…_ "Have I made my point?" Tivra smirked.

"Okay, let's just say you're right for now." Ren said guardedly. "Hypothetically. How did you know?"

"Familiarity," Tivra chuckled. "Albeit from a different perspective. Moving on, it's pretty obvious why blondie doesn't make a move." He turned to face Jaune. "You're scared she'll turn you down flat, and can't shake the feeling that she'd be making the right choice."

"I…" Jaune began before trailing off. "Yeah, pretty much." He sighed. "I'm not good enough for her, I probably never will be." *WHAM!* Ren let himself flinch at the punch Tivra sent Jaune's way.

"Pity party over." Tivra stated simply. "A man who's got the guts to stand between me in full crazy-mode and someone I'm angry with is a heck of a lot better than you seem to realise. Go get her, tiger." He turned back to face Ren. "You, however, are beyond my understanding." He leaned in uncomfortably close. "You are very clearly in love, she most likely reciprocates, and even if she doesn't she'd never throw away a friendship like you two have over something so petty. Yet you do nothing." He leaned in even closer, forcing Ren to lean back slightly. "Why?" 

"I was taught to control my emotions." Ren replied uneasily. "It's part of how I fight, and I can't risk throwing everything out of balance."

"I see." Tivra scowled. Ren managed to evade the first punch Tivra threw, but the second hit him dead in the face. "Try to feed me a pathetic excuse like that again, and I may break your arms." Tivra said vey calmly. "I get that you do the whole 'tranquil heart, clear mind' routine, but even I know that that doesn't work as an excuse." Ren carefully held back a stunned expression. _Who IS this guy? How is he doing this?_ "The whole 'keep your emotions on a leash, don't let anything throw them out of balance' thing is only during training and combat, unless you talk to one of the real crazies."

"Really?" Ren scoffed. "You're calling someone else crazy?"

"Which should tell you how toxic that mindset is." Tivra smoothly countered. "I'm guessing you picked it up from one or both of your parents?"

"How did you know that?" Ren asked.

"I'm good at this." Tivra replied plainly. "And since it was a parent, most likely your… father?" Ren nodded silently. "Often the case, but anyway, that means that for you to even exist leaves only three possibilities." He grinned wickedly. "One, your father was a hypocrite." Ren clenched his fists and grit his teeth; Tivra was on thin ice. "Two, your parents never really loved each other, and your father never loved you." And just like that, Tivra was no longer on thin ice. He was in the water. Ren leapt at Tivra, launching a spinning kick that the deranged hunter ducked as if it were nothing. Ren wasn't done though, he lashed out with the blades of his Storm Flower, not even caring that Tivra was able to deflect every strike off of his armoured bracers. "Or, number three;" Tivra continued, talking as though Ren weren't attacking him. "You aren't supposed to go through life fighting not to feel anything. Tranquillity can be achieved without killing your emotions, and a cold, emotionless state is only for battle." He grinned, catching a high kick and holding Ren's leg in place. "Now, you can either believe it's one of the first two, as unlikely as they are, and keep trying to fight me, in which case I punch you below the belt, or you can accept that it's option number three, and tell me the _real_ reason why you haven't made a move."

"That's private." Ren replied calmly.

"Really?" Tivra chuckled, releasing Ren's leg. "You're doing this? You've seen how annoying I can be, and you're doing this?" His face split into a sadistic leer. "Okay." And he began to hum. Not loudly, in fact, only just barely audible. He hummed. Out of key, and not quite in time. And then, he began tapping his foot. He couldn't seem to tap in in any consistent time signature. And after a few seconds, he transitioned from humming to whistling, even more out of key than the humming had been…

"I'll tell you." Ren sighed. "You are the most annoying person I've ever met; you know that?"

"Years of practice, my friend." Tivra smirked. "Years of practice. Now spill it; why haven't you asked her out?"

"I'm afraid." Ren said quietly. "I can still remember what it felt like to lose my parents." He could feel the tears coming, but he held them back. "I can't take that sort of pain again. What if I lose her?" He shuddered, and felt a single tear escape. "Losing the woman I loved… I think it might kill me."

"I understand that feeling more than you know." Tivra said, an unfamiliar gentleness in his voice. "That being said, you're an idiot."

"Excuse me?" Ren asked, more curious by this point than angry.

"Look, you're scared of loss, I get that." Tivra's voice had returned to infuriatingly casual. "But answer me this; if she died today, would it hurt any less than if you were dating?" Ren opened his mouth… and closed it again. "If I walked up to her and slit her throat, you'd kill me then eat a bullet, right?" Ren winced at the thought, before nodding. "So losing her would kill you as things are now?"

"Without a doubt." Ren sighed.

"If that's the case," Tivra said triumphantly. "Then there's really no point in holding off. And let's keep this ball rolling; do you think you'd treat her right?"

"Definitely." Ren said confidently

"She'd be happy with you?" Tivra enquired, sounding legitimately interested.

"I think so." Ren replied.

"So," Tivra's grin took on a predatory aspect. "By refusing to make a move, you're just denying her a chance at happiness." The words hit Ren like a sledgehammer.

"How did you do that?" He managed after a moment. "You barely know me, and you managed that. How?"

"Just because I'm a violently unstable mass of psychological damage and socially inopportune instincts doesn't mean I can't be a hopeless romantic."

"Fair enough," Ren began, seeing a chance at a little payback. "I mean, it _was_ pretty romantic when you crawled out of your tent to sleep next to Noire last night." He allowed himself a small grin; turnabout is fair play.

"What?" Jaune laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

"You, ah… you saw that?" Tivra asked awkwardly.

"You crawled up to her, whimpered something I couldn't understand, and curled up at her feet like a dog." Ren replied uncharacteristically smugly. "She even started to stroke your hair."

"Okay," Tivra sighed. "Full disclosure; I have a lot of… fairly graphic nightmares."

"I can relate." Jaune said, his voice tinged with sadness and fellow-feeling.

"And I go to Noire for comfort." He continued nervously. "And when she has a nightmare, also extremely common, by the way, she comes to me for comfort. And yes, I'm in love with her."

"So are you two dating or…" Jaune trailed off.

"No, we're not dating," Tivra chuckled. "Nor are we 'awkwardly trail off into silence', although I'm pretty sure she'd be down for either prospect if I asked."

"So you're a hypocrite." Ren observed calmly.

"The situation is different!" Tivra replied sharply. "I'm doing this for her sake!"

"Explain." Ren replied, his voice full of doubt.

"Look, just… what would you do," Tivra asked. "If you knew, beyond a doubt, that being in a relationship with Nora would end up hurting her, what would you do?"

"I'd avoid a relationship with her." Ren recognised his voice, he felt his mouth move; it was obvious that he'd said it, but his brain didn't seem to have been consulted.

"And there you have it!" Tivra crowed… triumphantly? _Saddest triumphant I've ever heard._ "I can't be happy unless _she's_ happy. And there's not much chance of _that_ in a relationship with me." He said with a chuckle that had about as much humour as a suicide note.

"You don't go easy on yourself." Jaune commented drily.

"People in glass houses should shut up and put some pants on." Tivra countered. "Besides, it's true. She deserves more out of a relationship than waiting for an unstable, self-destructive jerk's next freak-out." He sighed and cracked his neck. "So, I'll just stick to being her friend. Sooner or later, she'll find someone who's almost good enough to deserve her. _Almost_. And then she can be happy with them. It'll hurt to see her with someone else, but heck, a reckless moron like me probably won't live all that long, so that's alright."

"So you're not even going to try?" Ren asked.

"Why bother?" Tivra scowled. "I can't control myself; if we started dating, that lack of control would be more likely to hurt her. And what then?" Ren wasn't sure why, but for some reason, hearing Tivra's logic made him angry.

"Then learn some control." Ren replied, keeping his anger in check.

"I don't know _how_!" Tivra wailed. Ren sighed; this was going to be unpleasant.

"I can teach you." He stated plainly. "Meditation, visualisation, cognitive behavioural therapy; I can teach you all of it."

"Meditation? That quasi-mystical mumbo-jumbo for people scared of what's in their own heads?" Tivra's face split into a grin. "I'm in."

"Give me your contact details; this could take a while. And Tivra?" Ren shot him a Look. "Don't make me regret this."

"And maybe I could help you too!" Tivra exclaimed enthusiastically. "I could help you trust your instincts and feelings and stuff!"

"And I already regret it." Ren muttered to himself.

After Noire's comments, the conversation trailed off for a couple of minutes, nobody feeling much like talking after something so dark. However, eventually, conversation resumed, although Noire seemed intent to stay out of it. After a while, Nora left the main conversation to approach her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Noire grunted.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nora asked.

"Leave me alone." Noire scowled.

"For what it's worth, I think you're really pretty." Nora offered. Before Noire could respond, the boys walked into the clearing, a conversation in full swing between Ren and Tivra.

"…Don't get why it has to be in lots of seven." Tivra said, coming into earshot.

"If you count down in lots of seven, there's less of a consistent pattern." Ren explained. "It forces you to focus more."

"But that's just for emergencies, right?" Tivra asked excitedly as he held a stick laden with mushrooms, tubers, and meat over the fire.

"Exactly," Ren confirmed. "You use that method when you think you're about to lose your temper. I'll teach you some more long-term techniques later."

"Dare I ask?" Noire sighed

"Ren's been teaching me some tricks to help keep my temper on a leash." Tivra exclaimed cheerfully. Noire's eyebrow shot up.

"Seriously?" She sounded excited, at least to Nora's ears. "You're not joking?"

"Have you ever known me to tell a joke," Tivra began, pulling a mushroom off his makeshift skewer and popping it into his mouth. "That didn't make you want to slap me?" He smiled warmly, clearly please by her excitement, before his face suddenly shifted to a much more serious expression. "Grimm!" He turned his head to face a patch of the forest that was seemingly identical to the rest of it. Until it wasn't seemingly identical to the rest of the forest, because it was full of Grimm. They were unlike any Grimm Nora had seen before; huge, catlike creatures that moved more gracefully than she was used to from Grimm.

"Sigma formation!" Dante bellowed. He Talia and Noire moved into a defensive formation, but Tivra…

"No, this can't be real." Tivra's voice was weak, and his usual twitching had been replaced by trembling. "The climate's wrong, they don't even live on this continent, _how are there Khans here?_ " Khans. The Grimm that Tivra said nearly killed him as a child. _This is going to get ugly_.

"Get it together!" Dante yelled, hacking at the Grimm attacking them.

"Get _away!_ " Tivra wailed, leaping spastically to avoid an attacking Khan. The beast pressed the attack, forcing Tivra to wildly dodge, roll, leap and block, screaming incoherently all the while. Nora's attention was shifted back to the battle when a Khan leapt at her; Team JNPR had been scattered when the creatures attacked, and they were too busy trying to stay alive to even think about regrouping. Tivra hadn't been lying earlier. The Khan were indeed nasty. Faster than Beowolves, about as strong as Ursa, and tougher than either, topped off with rudimentary group tactics. Nasty. Nora brought her hammer crashing into a Khan's left side; sending it flying, only to have it stick the landing and leap right back at her. She brought her hammer down on its back, detonating a grenade for good measure. It didn't get back up.

"Come on, Tiv!" Noire called out. "We need you!" Nora couldn't resist taking advantage of a momentary break in the fighting to see how things were going for Tivra. The answer; badly. His clothes were torn, he was perched in a tree, and he looked… sick. Nora quickly checked the rest of the clearing: Dante was hacking through Khans, supported by Talia's firepower, Noire was doing alright, although she looked worried, Jaune and Pyrrha had managed to reach each other, and were fighting back to back, and Ren was keeping mobile, firing on full auto and keeping the fearsome Grimm at a distance. Nora glanced back at Tivra; he was scared. Maybe more scared than she'd ever seen anyone. It wasn't a hard decision.

"This isn't happening, this can't be happening, why is this happening?" Tivra really did look pathetic; it was hard to believe that the grinning, cackling, laughing maniac could be reduced to a snivelling, whimpering wreck, but there he was. A Khan leapt at him, sailing through the air with its claws outstretched, but Nora intercepted with a well-aimed grenade.

"Bring it on you overgrown kitties!" Nora yelled, rushing in to place herself between Tivra and the group of Khans targeting him. "I'll break all your legs!" A Khan leapt at her, and she sent it flying, bringing the haft of her hammer slamming into another, momentarily stunning it. She was able to bat another away with a backswing, before smashing one full in the face, breaking its neck. But then, a Khan seemed to come at her out of nowhere, forcing her to block with the haft of Magnhild, which the beast bit down on, trapping the weapon. Two more approached her, moving in from either side, and attacked.

" ** _NO!_** " Tivra was suddenly in front of her, standing atop the Khan that had her weapon trapped, the blades of his gauntlets embedded in the other two, wounding them, but not killing. "I am not prey!" He fired the blades, sending the wounded Khan flying as two new blades slid out of his bracers. " _I do not need to be protected!_ " *BOOM!* The blades embedded in the Grimm detonated, taking their heads off. " ** _I will not allow a CHILD to die for my sake!_** " He plunged his fresh blades through the skull of the Khan he was standing on. " ** _I AM AN APEX PREDATOR!_** " He turned into a blur, leaping from tree to Khan to teammate, constantly in motion, lashing out at the Grimm. Nora shook her head after a moment of stunned silence, and charged into the fight, crushing skulls and breaking spines.

"Too late for the formation." Dante growled. "Just keep killing them, and find someone to watch your back!" In the end, it didn't take them too long to finish the Khans off. And when it was over, Dante immediately marched up to Tivra, who was standing off to the side and panting, his arms hanging slack. "Are you okay?" Dante asked stiffly.

"I think so." Tivra replied tiredly.

"Good. We'll talk about this later." The red-clad Faunus growled.

"Khan don't live on this continent." Tivra pointed out. "Trust me, I checked. So you know who's behind this, right?"

"Kay." Noire spat the name.

"Who's Kay?" Jaune asked.

"Bad news." Talia answered. "He's a psychopathic mercenary who got kind of obsessed with us after we made him fail a job." She shuddered. "Worst part's his Semblance."

"Is it really strong?" Nora asked.

"He reads minds." Dante stated grimly. "Pray you never need to fight him." And with that, the forest seemed just a little bit darker than before.

Author's notes: Well… this one took a while. And it's pretty long. And it marks the last chapter that Team DTNT has any major involvement in. And hopefully, the next chapter will go someplace a little lighter. Since nobody got it, the song in chapter 11 is Hand of Doom, by the AWESOME metal band Manowar. I wonder if anyone can tell me what I'm referencing with Kay. I'll also be interested to see if anyone can tell me where 'all the little angels' comes from. Fair warning for those who aren't fond of Team DTNT; they WILL make minor appearances in later chapters. And before anyone points it out, yes, a big part of their inclusion was just as a simple way to give Team JNPR a kick in the pants regarding matters of the heart. That's about it for now. Next chapter is probably going to take a while, and if you want to find out more about Kay, don't worry; that will be dealt with in a separate story. Until next time, ciao!


	13. Chapter 13: Unabashed fluff

The mood on the ride back to Beacon was somewhat subdued, with Team DTNT demonstrating a real talent for brooding. After several attempts, it became clear that Kay was off-limits, as well as Tivra's breakdown. Finally, Jaune thought of a line of conversation that might not get shot down immediately.

"So, uh, why exactly did you act like it was such a bad idea to let Talia pack the food?" He asked.

"As I said earlier, I grew up in a refugee camp." Talia replied. "Those camps never have enough food for everybody, so you eat whatever's available. It's left me with a bad habit of not checking expiration dates, okay?" She seemed annoyed, like someone who'd had to give the same explanation a thousand times.

"Oh," Jaune replied lamely. "Sorry if I was bringing up a sensitive subject."

"It's cool." Talia reassured him. Conversation flowed a lot more easily after that, and before they knew it, they were back at Beacon.

"We'll have to report to Ozpin," Dante said professionally. "He needs to know about Kay. We have your contact details; we'll call if we need you." He appeared to hesitate. "You have a lot of potential; I look forward to seeing you progress as Hunters."

"It's been a blast!" Talia exclaimed.

"I'm… glad to have met you." Noire said quietly. "You're good people."

"See ya!" Tivra exclaimed. "Jaune; you're better than you give yourself credit for. Pyrrha; learn to use that viciousness I saw, fight dirty. Ren; you have no idea how grateful I am for your help. And Nora;" He grinned hugely. "You're amazing, and if anyone ever tells you otherwise, break their legs." With that, Team DTNT left, Dante marching while the others walked how they wanted to, thank you very much.

"Huh, that was unexpected." Jaune commented idly. "Who'd have guessed he could be nice?" The others shrugged, and they headed back to their dorm. "I don't know about you guys," Jaune sighed. "But I could really do with a shower."

"Definitely." Ren agreed, while Nora and Pyrrha nodded their assent. _And there's only one shower in our dorm, so you have to take turns; you might as well just say it now…_

"You know what? You guys go ahead," Jaune offered. "I can wait." _There it is; you really are too nice for your own good._

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." He assured her. "I wouldn't be much of a leader if I didn't look out for my team."

"I can wait until after the girls have gone." Ren offered, which Jaune found completely unsurprising.

"I know!" Nora crowed happily. "Me and Pyrrha can share the shower; that way we'll be done twice as fast!" Jaune felt himself blush to the roots of his hair as the mental images conjured by Nora's suggestion flooded his mind's eye, unbidden but not unwelcome (he _was_ a seventeen-year-old boy, after all). _Bad thoughts! You're not allowed to think like that!_ He glanced at Pyrrha's face, and felt a little more ashamed and embarrassed; she was blushing faintly, but there was also a faint look of amusement that made it clear to Jaune that she knew exactly what he'd been imagining.

"You know, that's not a bad idea." Pyrrha said, a seemingly innocent grin on her face. _Ouch. She's really having fun here. Time to turn the tables._

"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "In fact, I'm thinking that maybe me and Ren should do the same." _That_ certainly had an impact. Both girls had turned bright red, but beyond that, their reactions were very different. Pyrrha looked to be on the verge of a panic attack, no doubt getting a taste of what Jaune had just experienced. And Nora… she was just sort of standing there with a vacant smile. After a few seconds, she began to drool.

"Thanks for the offer," Ren replied, the merest ghost of a smirk on his face. "But I think I'll pass."

"If you say so." Jaune laughed, before walking off, sweaty, dirty and slightly pungent, but unbelievably smug.

Twenty minutes later, Pyrrha was done with her shower (she went after Nora and _no_ , they didn't share; get your minds out of the gutter). And despite twenty minutes and a hot shower, she was still shaken. And with good reason; catching Jaune blatantly fantasising about her (and Nora, but she hoped that was just collateral damage) would have been more than enough to leave her frazzled, but then he turned it around with that joke of his! No matter what she tried, her mind always flew back to the same mental images. Images of bare skin, toned muscle, slick with water and covered in suds. Images of two handsome young men in excellent shape, at the perfect age for self-discovery and experimentation, getting up to Oum knows what… She shook her head as if to shake the thoughts loose. _Okay, clearly you've spent a little too much time reading that book Blake gave you. And a little less time spent talking to Yang might be a good idea, while we're at it._

"Pyrrha, could you give Jaune a call and tell him the shower's free?" Ren asked, interrupting Pyrrha's introspection. She nodded. "Thanks." With that, he strolled off. Pyrrha took out her scroll and pulled up Jaune's number. As his face popped up on her scroll, she idly noticed bookshelves behind them; he was in the library.

"Hey, what's up?" Jaune asked.

"Ren asked me to tell you that the shower's free." Pyrrha replied.

"Thanks for the heads up!" Jaune grinned. "I just need a couple minutes to finish up here and I'll be right there."

"Catching up on some light reading?" Pyrrha joked.

"Just trying to make a dent in Dante's little list of 'recommended reading'." Jaune explained. "This could take a while."

"Looks like you're off to a good start." Pyrrha laughed, seeing the huge stack of books Jaune had on a nearby table.

"You didn't see the list." Jaune groaned. "It was… pretty extensive. Bye."

"Bye." She replied, ending the call. Jaune arrived a few minutes later, and in the shower mere moments after that.

" _All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces…"_ Jaune's voice drifted out of the bathroom, worrying Pyrrha slightly. Mad world? That was definitely not a good sign. But why would he be that depressed? Things had gone fairly well over the last couple of days. She resolved to keep listening, and see if she could glean any insight from his other song choices.

" _Hello darkness, my old friend…_ " The Sound of Silence? Not an improvement. What had happened to get him in such a bad mood? He'd looked to be in a good mood before; was she not as good at reading him as she thought? She listened carefully for his third song, hoping that it might give her an idea of what was wrong. " _We're no strangers to love. You know the rules, and so do I…"_ What? She couldn't have heard that right. " _…give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna…"_ She'd heard it right the first time. Rick Astley. Why Rick Astley? Finally, Jaune finished the song, and she heard his voice ring out. "Hey, Pyrrha? You just got Rickrolled!" A minute later, he strolled out of the bathroom looking unbelievably smug, and Pyrrha found herself wondering how she could be so utterly infatuated with Jaune and still want to put his head through a wall.

"Really?" She asked him, struggling not to laugh. "You Rickrolled me?"

"I couldn't resist!" Jaune replied. "It was just too easy!"

She shook her head. "Unbelievable."

"I've been called worse." Jaune said jokingly. "Anyway, I'd probably better get to reading some of those books, so I'll see you later."

"Well, just remember to take breaks every now and then, okay?" With that, Pyrrha headed out; there was someone she needed to talk to.

Yang was bored. She was bored because didn't really have anything to do. Or rather, there wasn't anything much she felt like doing right then and there. She'd hit them gym, she was all caught up on homework (or whatever you call it at a boarding school, dormwork?), and her friends all seemed to have their own stuff going on. _Well, I guess you could always just hop on your bike to kill an hour or so._

"Yang!" Pyrrha exclaimed, running up to her. "I've been looking for you for ages!"

"Oh?" Yang grinned, anticipating a break from her boredom. "Go on."

"I needed to ask you if-" She suddenly stopped and looked around wildly. Seeming satisfied that nobody else was nearby. She leaned in close and whispered. "If anyone else is interested in Jaune."

"Oh." Yang said lamely, caught off-guard by this line of questioning. Of course, it made sense that Pyrrha would come to her; there wasn't much that happened in Beacon that she didn't hear about. "Well, I hate to worry you Pyrrha, but I've been hearing some things…"

"What? What have you been hearing?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell you…" Yang grinned right up until she saw Pyrrha's expression. "Okay, fine."

"Thank you."

"I won't lie to you; I've heard talk. After the first aid thing and what he did to Cardin, some people have been taking another look at him. And, well, some people like what they see."

"Who, and how serious?" Pyrrha was all business; Yang had seen people plan missions with a less serious tone.

"Whoah! Easy girl!" Yang took a step back. "Nobody you'd know, and not very. A couple of girls in our year said they think he's kinda cute and one of the second-years…"

"Tell me."

Yang sighed; she'd hoped she wouldn't have to tell Pyrrha this little detail. "One of the second-years said something about making him her new toy." She braced herself for the inevitable explosion; this was going to get ugly.

" _WHAT?!_ " Pyrrha was furious. "Her _toy?_ "

"Her words, not mine!" Yang cried desperately. "Don't shoot the messenger!"

"Give me a name and description."

"Not a chance." Yang replied. "If I tell you, you'll get yourself expelled for sure, and then who's left to protect Jaune from the likes of her? Besides, do you really see him going for a girl with _that_ attitude?"

"He went after Weiss…" Pyrrha mumbled.

"Okay, so he has terrible judgement." Yang conceded. "But he's a _romantic_ with terrible judgement. He was always talking about a serious relationship, not a fling. I don't see him being into a girl who just wants to see if the rumour about Arc men is true."

"What's the rumour about Arc men?" Pyrrha asked. Yang told her. "…Oh." Her voice was slightly strained, and her face was flushed. Yang grinned; this was fun.

"Not expecting that?" Pyrrha shook her head silently. "His Aura _is_ awfully large." Yang said in her sleaziest tone of voice.

"That is true…" Pyrrha's voice was faint.

"Tell you what;" Yang put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "When you find out if the rumours are true, you tell me, okay?" Pyrhha… just sort of squeaked. Apparently that little joke had pushed her beyond words. Yang decided it was time to show some mercy. "I'll put the word out that Jaune's off-limits." She promised.

"Will that help?" Pyrrha asked, having apparently found her voice again.

"For a while." Yang grinned. "It should buy you a couple of months at least." She turned serious. "But that's all it's good for. After that, he'll be fair game, and there'll be twice as many gunning for him."

"What? Why?" Yang rolled her eyes; could Pyrrha really understand so little? "Forbidden fruits; people want what they can't have. Besides;" She added flippantly. "If people hear that he's off-limits, that means someone else wants him, which makes him desirable. In other words, you need to make a move."

"Well…" Pyrrha sounded hesitant. "While we were training with Team DTNT, I did… kiss him…"

"Whoah!" Yang exclaimed. "Look at you, securing the kill!"

"…On the cheek." Pyrrha finished nervously.

"Oh. Well, how did he react?"

"I didn't stay to find out." Pyrrha muttered, shamefaced.

"You're breaking my heart here, Pyrrha." Yang sighed. "Tell you what; see me after lunch tomorrow, I'll do you a solid."

"What do you have in mind?" Pyrrha asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out tomorrow." Yang grinned. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important meeting with my motorcycle." After Pyrrha had left, yang pulled out her scroll to make a call. "How's it going Coco?"

"Cut to the chase, Yang." Coco replied bluntly. "You only call me when you want something, so what is it?" Yang had always liked how straightforward Coco was.

"Could you do me a solid and make sure all the second year girls know Jaune's off the menu?" Coco cocked an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" She asked disbelievingly. "Arc Angel? You have weird taste."

"What? No, I'm helping out a friend." Yang clarified. "That's the second time someone's made that mistake."

"Second?" Coco scoffed. "Boy are you out of the loop." She gave Yang an appraising look. "But what the heck. I'll put the word out." Yang grinned and opened her mouth to thank Coco. "If," The fashionista continued before Yang could say a word. "You tell me who's got their sights set on the kid."

"Swear not to tell?" Coco nodded. "Pyrrha."

At that, Coco actually took off her sunglasses, neatly folding them and placing them in a shirt pocket. "Could you repeat that?"

"Are you asking me to repeat myself because you didn't hear me?" Yang asked, grinning hugely. "Or because you heard me and you don't believe it?"

"I _can't_ believe it!" Coco exclaimed. "She knows she has an entire school to choose from, right?"

"She wants Jaune."

"No kidding." Coco muttered. "I guess shy and unassuming really does it for her."

"Guess so." Yang agreed.

"Well, since I haven't heard anything about how Pyrrha could do better, or how incredibly lucky Jaune is, I'm guessing she hasn't told him?"

"Got it in one." Yang confirmed. "Fear of rejection's a powerful thing."

"Fear of rejection? Seriously?" Coco asked bemusedly. "She's miles out of his league!"

"Hey, ease up!" Yang laughed. "Jaune'd treat her right, and you know what a big Aura means…"

"I guess he's alright." Coco conceded. "He's still ridiculously lucky."

"Big time!" Yang agreed. "So, can I count on you?"

"I'll put the word out." Coco replied after a moment of contemplation. "Arc's a marked man."

Jaune was exhausted. He'd spent the last five hours reading a particularly dense and lengthy treatise on squad-level tactics, making extensive notes as he went, so this was understandable. He somehow made it through dinner, although he couldn't tell you what he ate, or what his friends were talking about. As soon as he finished, he shuffled to his dorm and collapsed face-first onto his bed. "Mmhhrmm, mmnhm."

"What was that, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. He lifted his head so he was no longer muffled by his pillow.

"From now on, I think I'll dial it back to an hour or two of Dante's recommended reading." He groaned. "It feels like my brain's dripping out my ears. Can we start training a little later tonight?"

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Pyrha asked, sounding concerned. "We've all had a tiring couple of days, after all."

"I spent five hours reading." Jaune deadpanned. "I need some fresh air." He saw her hesitate, clearly worried about his wellbeing. "Look, we'll just do some drills and a couple rounds of sparring, okay? I promise I'll be careful."

"Well, just as long as you don't push yourself too hard, I guess there's no harm in a short training session." Pyrrha conceded. And so, after a couple of hours, they headed out to train, accompanied, to their surprise, by Nora.

"Ren's teaching Tivra how to meditate." She explained. "He needs a quiet room. Can I train with you?"

"Sure, no problem." Jaune answered. Training went well, with Nra going through some defensive drills while Pyrrha oversaw Jaune as he went through his sword drills. After a while it was time to spar, which was when Nora had an idea.

"Let's all spar at once!" She suggested excitedly.

"A three-way sparring match?" Pyrrha sounded doubtful. "That might not be a good idea."

"It'd be so much fun!" Nora exclaimed.

"Come on, Pyrrha." Jaune began. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Exactly two miutes and seventeen seconds later, Jaune learned exactly what could go wrong, as Nora caught him in the face with an inopportune backswing that sent him stumbling off the roof.

"I'm gonna die I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie…" He said it over and over again, faster and faster in a mad panic.

"You're not going to die," Pyrrha reassured him. "I've got you!" She was using her Semblance to hold him up by his armour. "Just don't look down." He looked down.

"Please don't drop me." He whimpered, scared to death.

"I won't drop you." Pyrrha promised, although her voice sounded a little strained to Jaune. He rose a couple of centimetres before stopping. "Nora, hold out your hammer so Jaune can grab onto it." Nora nodded silently, apparently shocked into silence by the realization that Jaune could have died, and held out Magnhild until Jaune could reach the head.

"Okay Nora," Jaune called out. "I've got a hold. Pull me up." Between Pyrrha's Semblance and Nora's strength, it only took a few seconds to get him back up onto the roof. After that he took a few seconds to catch his breath before surprising Pyrrha with the only the very best in exuberant bear hugs. "Thankyousomuchyousavedmylifeyou'reamazing!"

"Slow down." Pyrrha laughed.

"Thank you so much," Jaune said, at a normal speed this time, and still hugging her. "You saved my life. You're amazing!" She blushed slightly at this, and Jaune fancied they might have been having a moment…

"I'm so sorry Jaune!" Nora was suddenly gripping his shoulders and staring at him with a worried expression. "Are you okay? I can't believe that happened! I didn't mean to hit you I swear please don't hate me!"

"Nora!" Jaune yelled to interrupt her stream-of-consciousness apology. "Calm down. I'm fine, I know it was an accident, and of course I don't hate you." He turned back to Pyrrha, knowing full well that the… whatever it was, was gone. "Okay, from now on I think I'll just let you call the shots when we're training."

"That might be for the best." Pyrrha agreed.

"I think that's enough training for tonight." Jaune said.

"Probably." Pyrrha affirmed. With that they headed back to their dorm.

"So Ren," Jaune addressed the martial artist as he lay sprawled out on his bed. "How'd the lesson go?"

"Better than I expected." Ren sighed, sounding weary. "But it took an hour to get him to sit still."

"An hour?" Jaune laughed incredulously.

"A literal hour. He's probably never going to be ready for advanced meditation, but he only really needs to get far enough to help him relax, so we're actually making decent progress."

"Cool." And that was just about all that Jaune could think to say about that, so he instead settled for going to sleep.

Jaune woke up feeling good. No stiff neck, no grogginess, just plain good. And it seemed to set a trend for the rest of the day; he didn't have any trouble with his morning classes, and he had a break period after lunch, as did Yang, which meant they'd hit the gym. Jaune had been surprised by how much he enjoyed working out; the sensation of pushing his limits, of slowly getting stronger was almost addictive. To his surprise, Yang wasn't the only person in the gym when he got there.

"Hey Pyrrha, you here to get some exercise in before our next class?" Jaune asked amiably.

"Nah," Yang grinned. "She just wants to see you sweat, pretty boy!"

"Yang!" Pyrrha sounded mortified. "I just felt like a quick workout." Pyrrha explained to Jaune.

"The more the merrier." Jaune replied, heading to the boy's changing room.

It only took him a minute to change into his gym clothes (a singlet and shorts that he was fairly certain were shorter and tighter than necessary, no matter what Yang said). He strolled out of the dressing room… and stopped, if only to pick his jaw up off the floor. He was looking (staring, gawking) at Pyrrha. The sneakers were no surprise, nor were the sweatbands. The fact that she opted to exercise in spandex bike shorts was not exactly what he expected, but it made sense. The sports bra was another matter. Well, that wasn't exactly fair; he'd never given much thought to the issue (or at least, none that he'd admit to), but he supposed that it was something Pyrrha would wear while exercising. But, in retrospect, he'd have expected her to be wearing something over it. It actually had a higher bustline than her armour, ending just below the collarbone, but funnily enough, and against all expectations one might have of a seventeen-year-old boy, that wasn't where Jaune was looking.

"Wow…" Jaune whispered, more a breath than a word. He knew that there were some people who would find Pyrrha's impressive physical condition to be intimidating. People who would find her prowess in battle off-putting, or mannish. People, in fact, who considered washboard abs to be an unattractive feature on a woman. Jaune understood that there were people who held this opinion, and he respected their right to believe whatever they wanted. But they were wrong.

"Well, I guess we should get started with some stretches." Pyrrha said brightly, launching into some hamstring stretches. Jaune was having a _really_ good day.

He fancied his workout was a little easier than usual. Scratch that; it felt a _lot_ easier than usual. He was powering through exercises that were typically punishing, as if some unknown force had just filled him with energy. _Sure, some UNKNOWN force. Keep telling yourself that. Mind you, the sight of Pyrrha's workout clothes IS pretty energizing._

"Hey Jaune, you done with that set?" Yang asked. "I need a spotter."

"I'm on it." Jaune replied, taking position behind the weight bench.

"Then there's just one thing left to do." Yang said, a determined look on her face. She picked up her scroll, and a moment later, _Eye of the Tiger_ filled the gym. "Okay, let's rock."

Jaune had been spotting for Yang for a few minutes when, unusually for him, his attention began to wander. Well, not exactly 'wander', as that implies a lack of direction or focus. Perhaps it would be better to say that his attention strayed right to Pyrrha, who was running on a treadmill on the opposite side of the gym, her back to him. At first his eyes were drawn to her hair as her ponytail bobbed up and down while she ran, but he soon found himself looking lower. For a moment, he watched her shoulder blades moving, until a bead of sweat running down her spine seized his attention. He found himself incapable of tearing his eyes off it as it ran down her spine, along the small of her back, and soaked into her workout shorts. Which shifted his attention to something else entirely, of course.

"Okay, I'm done." Jaune heard Yang's voice, but it didn't really register. Pyrrha's workout shorts were, as previously mentioned, skin-tight; they looked like yoga pants that had been cut off just below the knees. And as such, Jaune was really beginning to appreciate what the life of a Huntress could do for a girl's, ahem, saddlery region. "Uh, Jaune?" He dimly recalled that there was something he was supposed to be doing, but he couldn't seem to think what. She really did have a nice… "Jaune! Spot me!" The note of panic in Yang's voice was enough to finally snap Jaune back to reality, just in time to see Yang struggling to keep her barbells in the air, her arms beginning to shake under the weight. It only took Jaune a moment to guide the barbells into the… holders? He'd never bothered learning what they were called.

"Oh, wow, I am so sorry Yang, I just…" Jaune trailed off.

"Got a little distracted?" Yang deadpanned. "I noticed." She grinned. "I wonder what by."

"You, uh, saw that?" Jaune asked in a very small voice.

"Naturally."

"Please don't tell her." He pleaded.

"Naturally." With that, Yang slid off the weight bench walked off to talk to Pyrrha. Jaune prayed that she'd been telling the truth; he really didn't want Pyrrha to find out how he felt because he got caught ogling her. _Not exactly the sort of story you'd tell your grandchildren._

Pyrrha was feeling a little stressed out. Understandable; Yang had told her to come to the gym, vetoed her usual tank top, forcing her to wear naught but a sports bra and her exercise shorts, paraded her in front of Jaune, and she _still hadn't told her what this was meant to accomplish!_

"What happened there?" Pyrrha asked.

"Sorry," Yang replied. "Jaune asked me not to tell you. But enough about that!" Yang changed the subject quickly. "How are you enjoying the show?"

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha didn't need to feign ignorance as was so often the case when talking with Yang, because she legitimately had no idea what she was talking about.

"The cutie with the booty!" Yang exclaimed.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. "What about him?"

"Liking his workout clothes?" Yang smirked. "You can thank _me_ for those shorts he's wearing, by the way."

"Aren't they a bit snug?" Pyrrha enquired, sounding to all the world (or so she hoped) like nothing more than a concerned friend looking out for his best interests.

"I knew you'd like it." Yang's grin told Pyrrha that she had failed; she looked nothing like a concerned friend. She was about to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of a scroll.

"Hey Marie!" Jaune sounded pleasantly surprised. "How's it going round the homestead, kiddo?" Pyrrha had to bite back a giggle at that particular bit of cheesy nonsense. That being said, it was nice to see the warm smile on Jaune's face as he listened with apparent interest to his little sister talk about every little thing that had happened since their last meeting.

"… and I drew you a picture!" Marie finished excitedly.

"Really?" Jaune asked, sounding delighted. "Well, let's see it then!" There were a few seconds of silence, and then… "I love it!" Pyrrha couldn't help but grin at that; less the words, more the complete sincerity she could hear in them. The tone of voice that suggested that, at that moment, Jaune couldn't think of anything better than the drawing his little sister had done. "Come on guys, take a look!" He motioned for them to come over.

It was about as good as Pyrrha had expected, given Marie's youth. Maybe a little better, but that might have just been Jaune's enthusiasm clouding her judgement. But more interesting than the quality was the subject. "It's us!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "It's Team JNPR!" They were all there; Jaune with his Crucea Mors (she'd absolutely nailed the emblem on his shield, unsurprisingly), Pyrrha, with Milo in its spear form (Pyrrha especially liked how her hair had been drawn), she'd somehow managed to capture Nora's hyperactive glee (although Pyrrha was fairly certain that Magnhild wasn't _that_ big), and she had to stifle a giggle at Ren's likeness, as Marie had somehow managed to perfectly capture his 'I'm trying not to smile' expression. And they'd been drawn fighting a Grimm. The Grimm (it looked like an… Ursa?" marked a stark contrast in the picture, becase while the rest of the image was cute, the Grimm was, well, haunting, in that curious way that only the drawings of small children can be. Where the drawings of Team JNPR looked like just that, a child's drawings, the Ursa resembled some ancient cave painting, meant to warn people of a terrible danger.

"She loves to draw." Jaune said cheerfully.

"Ask her for one of Team RWBY." Yang suggested.

"Sure thing." Jaune replied. "Oh, is that the time? We'd better get ready for class."

Yang approached Pyrrha in the dressing room. "That was adorable."

"It was." Pyrrha agreed.

"Jaune's a really sweet guy."

"He is."

"You have a week." Yang said plainly. "He doesn't deserve to be alone just because you're too scared to make a move. One week; after that, I'll either tell her myself or set him up with someone else. Your choice. Oh, and just to help get you moving; Jaune asked me not to tell you what distracted him, and you were in a sports bra." She winked. "You work it out."

Ren was thinking. Not unusual. About Nora. Again, not unusual. What _was_ unusual was that he was beginning to think that he might be ready to tell her how he felt. It was almost disappointing; no grand revelation, no apparent cause, he just felt like it was time. "Hey Nora, do you have a minute? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Whatcha wanna talk about?" Nora asked happily.

"I've been thinking and…" Ren stopped. Something felt… wrong. _Is this really how you're going to tell her? So casually? No romance? She deserves better, and you know it. Besides which, now that you've started thinking like this, you won't be able to muster the courage, so you may as well give up for now._ "…Never mind. I can't tell you just yet."

"That's okay!" Nora replied. "Tell me when you're ready!"

"I will." Ren promised.

 _Meanwhile, at the wharf, a dockhand with a wiry build and dark circles around his eyes was staring disbelievingly at a ship in the docks. "What the heck? I thought the Slothflower was meant to set sail!" He stormed off. "Now I'm behind schedule, and with the Arkos still on my docket. Stupid last-minute delays…"_

Author's Notes: All hands on deck! These ships are getting ready to SAIL! Oh, this chapter was fun. Pervy Jaune, Pervy Pyrrha, more pervy Jaune, More Pervy Pyrrha… Plus, Jaune being an awesome big bro, Coco's disbelief, Yang's… Yang-ness. Sorry this one took so long, by the way. Had trouble finding the time to write. And no, I couldn't resist bringing back the fourth-wall breaking self-insert dockhand. Sorry to tease you guys like that with Ren, but what can I say? I'm a jerk. And thanks for all the reviews! As of writing this, I've got 97 reviews, 282 Favourites, and 424 follows, all of which is insane. I mean, the only thing that could be more awesome would be if someone did art of a scene (hint hint).


	14. Chapter 14 Anchors Aweigh!

"Hey Weiss, do you have a minute?" Weiss couldn't help being a little wary of Jaune when he asked her that; it reminded her too much of various attempts to woo her, as unfair as that comparison was.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Even if she was a little uncomfortable with him approaching her in private, they were still friends, and she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Well, it's about how I used to act around you…" Weiss was pretty sure she didn't like where this was heading. "I just wanted to apologise."

"Oh." Weiss said lamely, caught off-guard. "Don't worry about it, it's fine."

"No Weiss, it's not fine." Jaune sounded unusually serious. "I was way out of line."

"Seriously Jaune, it wasn't a big deal. You were annoying, but that's it." Nobody had ever taught Weiss one of the basic rules of human nature; if someone's apologizing to you, it ends when they're done, not when you are.

"Annoying? I was practically stalking you towards the end!" Jaune had started waving his hands as he talked.

"That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?" Weiss asked wryly.

"Maybe, but only because I don't know the charge for that stunt with the guitar."

"Attempted serenade?" Weiss suggested, a tiny grin on her face.

"Nice. But anyway, I only backed down once it was clear you were into Neptune, so _that_ was some weird 'may the best man win' garbage, and I just feel like I've been kind of a creep towards you."

"Why were you so fixated on me anyway?" Weiss asked, looking to satisfy her curiosity.

"This is going to sound stupid," Jaune warned. "So you have to promise that you won't judge until I'm finished."

"You have my word."

"Okay, here we go…" Jaune sighed heavily. "It kind of goes back to that joke you made when you were talking to Ruby."

"What joke?" Weiss asked.

"You said something like 'we can talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde and scraggly over there' you promised not to judge me yet!"

"Not judging, just waiting for an explanation." Weiss said, while absolutely judging him, because how could she not after hearing something that stupid?

"Well, thinking you might see me like that just kind of got me excited; I've never had a girlfriend, so… yeah." He blushed. "I started looking at you in that light and, well, you've got a lot going for you."

"Oh." Weiss was getting sick of being speechless.

"Smart, pretty, classy; you understand the appeal." Jaune grinned apologetically. "But looking back now, you and I… no. Just no."

"Completely incompatible." Weiss agreed.

"If it were a horse, you'd shoot it." Jaune added. "But, uh, yeah. That's the story." He coughed awkwardly. "Sorry for being a creep."

"You weren't a creep," Weiss reassured him. "Just annoying."

"Then you should know that you weren't being mean," Jaune said, sounding sincere. "You were just being straightforward with me."

Weiss sighed. "You're way too forgiving."

"People in glass houses," Jaune said, sounding like he was quoting someone. "Should shut up and put some pants on."

"Cute." Weiss replied drily. "Honestly Jaune, it's just a pity you couldn't have made a better choice. Find someone you'd be able to form a healthy relationship with."

"Someone like, say… Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, sounding very small.

Weiss thought back to the… fairly intense conversation she'd had with Pyrrha after Jaune's famous fight with Cardin. "That could work." She knew that Pyrrha had a thing for Jaune, but she'd resolved to stay clear of that whole can of worms, so she wouldn't be telling Jaune what she knew. "Yes, I could definitely see that working."

They were having their lunch when Ren saw trouble approach them. "Cardin." His eyes narrowed slightly, his hands balled into fists and he almost half-scowled.

Jaune was a little less restrained, scowling openly and standing up to confront the bully. "What do _you_ want?" Ren was surprised by Cardin's reply; no reply at all. In fact, his entire team just seemed to be looking at the ground and shuffling awkwardly.

After what felt like at least a full minute, Cardin finally spoke. "I'm- we're here to apologise."

 _That_ certainly caught everyone off guard. Cardin apologising? What's more, he sounded like he actually meant it.

"We've been a bunch of jerks to you guys, and, well, we're sorry." Cardin sighed. "Jaune, I'm sorry for bullying you, and I'm sorry for blackmailing you. And Nora…" Ren was secretly amazed to see that Cardin actually looked sincerely ashamed. "What I did was awful, and I understand if you don't forgive me, but I'm sorry."

"Okay!" Nora chirped happily. "I forgive you!" Ren couldn't quite hold back a grin at that; Nora really was straightforward in her thinking; Cardin hurt her, she hurt Cardin, they were even.

"Seriously?" The incredulous tone to Cardin's voice very nearly had Ren laughing out loud.

"Sure!" Ren shook his head as he recalled how long it had taken him to adjust to Nora's straightforward, almost childish way of handling things.

"Well, uh… Thank you! I really wasn't expecting you to forgive me that easily." He turned to face Jaune. "And do you forgive me, Jauney Boy?"

Jaune sighed. "Fine. If Nora forgives you, I forgive you." Cardin sagged with relief. "But if you ever hurt my friends again…"

"I know." Cardin cut him off. "We've been here before."

"So what's behind your sudden change of heart?" Pyrrha asked.

"That's a tough question." Cardin answered. "But I've kind of got a new perspective, well, maybe more like an old one that I'd forgotten."

"We're all looking at the world a little different." Sky added.

"I guess I just wanted to try and set things right." Cardin offered. "I'm sick of who I was, and I want to move on."

"You should probably apologise to Velvet." Ren pointed out. "You've given her more trouble than anyone.

They all turned to look at Velvet who, ever since her last altercation with Cardin, and despite her protestations, was flanked by the rest of her team, who were acting more like bodyguards than anything else. "I'm, uh, getting to that." Cardin said lamely.

While she took it well at the time, at the end of the day, Nora freaked out. Way out. "Cardin was nice!" She screamed in a blind panic. "Cardin can't be nice!"

"Why does this bug you so much?" Jaune asked, leaving Nora stunned at his lack of understanding. Didn't he get it? Didn't anyone?

"If Cardin's being nice to people, that means that everything's changing!" Nora exclaimed.

"So?" Jaune remained oblivious. _Not exactly out of character for him_. "Things change all the time."

"But if everything changes, what about us?" Nora asked frantically. She saw realisation dawn on Ren's face. _About time!_

"You're worried that if everything changes, we might drift apart one day." A statement; that was what struck Nora about his words. He wasn't asking a question, because he didn't need to. Ren understood her.

"That's crazy!" Jaune exclaimed. "Team JNPR's never breaking up!"

"We'll always be friends, no matter what happens." Pyrrha added.

"But what if you're wrong?" Nora asked, calming down somewhat.

"Nora, look at me." She turned to face Ren, and was met with an uncharacteristically tender expression. "No matter what happens, no matter how much things change," His tone was so serious, so solemn. "I promise you, we'll always be together."

"But not together-together." Nora added, more out of habit than anything else. And then she saw Ren's face and was greeted by a look of uncertainty. After a few seconds, it slowly shifted, going through doubt, and into determination tinged with… something she didn't quite recognise, but felt she should have known.

"Not together-together." Ren almost whispered. "But why not?" The room went silent.

"W-what?" Nora asked, hating herself for stuttering. "Because it'd be weird!"

"Why would it be weird?" Ren asked, sounding unusually insistent as he took a step towards her. "Because we've been friends our whole lives?" Another step. "That wouldn't make it weird Nora, but it might make it perfect." Another. "you make be happy every day, just by being yourself, and I can't even imagine living without you." He continued to close the distance, and Nora found herself backing into a corner. "Nora…"

"Y-yes Ren?" Nora asked nervously, caught between elation and blind terror. Ren leaned in and... tapped her lightly on the nose.

"Boop."

 _Miles away, a dockhand who always looked to be short a night or two of sleep was gazing in satisfaction as a ship pulled out of the docks. "Well, how about that." He murmured. "The damned Slothflower's finally setting sail." He sighed contentedly. "Ah well," Suddenly he was all business again. "Best get back to work prepping the Arkos."_

News had spread fast. News spread very fast. News spread as fast as people could rush to Team JNPR's dorm to see what all the noise was about. Nora had been very happy and, as such, very loud. Ruby had of course been ecstatic, Weiss and Blake were more reserved, but still clearly happy for the new couple in their own quiet way, and Yang had just commented that it was about time. Team CRDL had seemed pleased as well, as did a few people Jaune didn't even recognise. Things had moved fast after that, to the point that, within half an hour, they already had their first date planned out.

 _Good to know that SOMEONE has the guts to make a move_. Jaune had excused himself from the room after a few minutes; you can only watch people cuddling for so long, and he was therefore left with his thoughts. About Pyrrha, naturally. It was driving him crazy; he _wanted_ to ask her out, to tell her how he felt, but he just couldn't muster the courage. _Coward. Weak, pathetic coward._ Jaune clenched his fists. _You'll never actually make a move, will you? Just keep chickening out until someone else beats you to it..._ He paused, staring at the door in front of him. _And then you're stuck being happy for her, because you missed your shot._ He knocked.

"Oh, hey Jaune." Neptune didn't seem surprised to see him. "I was wondering when you'd come knocking."

"You were expecting me?" Jaune asked.

"After Ren and Nora finally got together? Of course." Neptune grinned. "I know why you're here, so let's cut to the chase. What's happened between you and Pyrrha since our last conversation?"

It took Jaune a few minutes to finish recounting the events of their training excursion, and when he was done, Neptune was staring at him with a look of utter disbelief.

"Let me see if I've got this straight." Neptune said, sounding… kind of annoyed. "Since our last conversation, you've given her a shoulder massage, stood between her and a complete psycho, and gotten a kiss on the cheek, _and you still haven't asked her out?_ " He shook his head. "Hopeless."

"I know." Jaune groaned. "I just can't seem to do it."

"Well, I really don't know what to tell you." Neptune admitted. "At this point, it's all on you, man."

Jaune nodded miserably and began the walk back to his dorm. He honestly hadn't expected anything else. Hoped? Yes. Expected? Not in the slightest. He was on his own on this one; and that scared the heck out of him. Honestly, he just wished the world would cut him a break.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice was hesitant as she walked up to him. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Go ahead." Jaune replied, smiling warmly.

"Well, um… I'm not sure how to say this but… this might be a bit sudden," Jaune's pulse began to race at the familiarity of her words. "It's just that, well, I can't stop thinking about you…" _Red light._ "I know you probably won't believe me, but you've got a lot going for you, Jaune." _Green light._ "Smart, brave, sweet and handsome… no wonder I needed Yang to scare off the competition." _Wait, she what? Also, green light._ "So, I was wondering… would you be interested in going out with me sometime?"

Jaune began to laugh; how could he not? All the stress, all the anxiety, and it was completely unnecessary. "I can't believe it!" He exclaimed between fits of laughter. "I've been agonizing over this for _weeks_ , trying to work up the courage to ask you out, and you beat me to the punch!"

"You wanted to ask me out?" PYrrha asked incredulously, before breaking down into her own fit of giggles.

"We're idiots!" Jaune exclaimed happily.

"Absolutely!" Pyrrha agreed. They continued to laugh for another thirty seconds or so before gradually calming down.

"In case you weren't sure, I'd love to go out with you, Pyrrha." He felt his grin widen as he spoke. "Man it felt good to say that!" Pyrrha began to giggle again, and they began to head back to their dorm, arm in arm. Jaune could _feel_ his previous fears and doubts melting away; he'd done it! No more panicking, no worrying about how to ask her out; he had a date with Pyrrha! A date… with Pyrrha. Who was way out of his league. Meaning that he couldn't afford to mess this up. _You thought you were in over your head before? This is where the real work begins._

 _And off in the docks, the same almost-handsome-but-actually-creepy-looking dockhand was wiping the sweat from his brow as he watched a ship pull out of the harbour. "Well," He said, slightly out of breath. "That's the Arkos done." He smirked, something his face seemed custom-made for. "Oh yeah, I'm good."_

Author's notes: Yes, that ending paragraph is self-congratulatory. So sue me. In all seriousness, it feels good to have this chapter finished. The ships have set sail! The fluff continues at an alarming rate! It shall continue to expand until it consumes all! All will be assimilated by these pairings! Okay, dialling it back a bit. This story still has a ways to go, so be ready for more… just as soon as I get round to writing it. I added Jaune's exchange with Weiss because I wanted to address the fact that some of Jaune's actions in Volume 2 were… a bit much. Fun fact; the way Ren confeses to Nora? The little 'boop'? Yeah, I've had that rattling around in my head pretty much since I started this story. The next chapter will probably see the preparation for the dating, with the chapter after that being the dates proper. Please feel free to review.


	15. Chapter 15: Preparations

Ren wasn't sure if he'd ever felt this good in his entire life. He'd gotten his feelings out in the open, and he was currently lazing around, cuddling with his girlfriend. Life was good. They'd spent the first few minutes talking; about why Ren had been scared to tell Nora how he felt, why Nora had been scared to tell Ren how she felt, and what changed. They'd reminisced, they'd agreed on what they'd do for a first date (there was a fair in town; Nora wanted to go and after seeing how excited she was about it, so did Ren), and they'd even shared a hesitant first kiss. That had all been nice, but he preferred this to everything else in their relationship thus far (well, except the kiss, but he didn't want to seem greedy), halfway between sitting and lying down on his bed in a comfortable silence with Nora in his arms, listening to her breathe. _In… Out… In… Out…_ It was almost meditative.

"This is nice." Nora sighed happily.

"Yeah." Ren murmured. "It is."

"Together-together…" She whispered, shifting position slightly.

"Always." Ren replied.

"Hey, Ren?" Nora had moved again, her face closer to his own, and her hands resting on his chest.

"Yes Nora?" He asked casually. She smiled shyly and leaned in for a kiss. Ren was happy to comply.

It was a great deal less hesitant than their first had been, to say the least. As soon as their lips made contact, Nora grew a little more forceful; not enough to be uncomfortable, just… exhilarating. Her soft lips, tasting faintly sweet (Ren had a few guesses as to why), seemed to chase conscious thought out of his mind. Somehow, his right hand had found its way to the small of her back without consulting him, but he wasn't complaining. He pulled her in gently, enjoying the feeling of closeness. This was what he'd been scared of? This is what he'd been resisting? Nora began to run her fingers through his hair as he moved his left hand to between her shoulder blades. Nothing in the world could ruin this moment…

"Hey guys-Whoah!" Jaune's voice shocked them out of their reverie, and Nora shot upright. Unfortunately, in doing so, she happened to bring her knee into somewhat forceful contact with Ren's… area (Author's Note: I'm a monster). Ren managed a very dignified reaction, at least in his opinion; no screaming, no whimpering, he just let out a grunt of pain and curled up into a ball.

"Jaune," Ren managed after a couple of minutes, albeit in a slightly strained voice. "You know that I value your friendship, but could you please knock next time?" That's when he noticed. "You two seem close." He noted idly, gesturing towards their interlocked arms. "Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

"Well, uh… Pyrrha kind of… asked me out." Jaune explained nervously. "And I, uh, I accepted." He grinned shyly. Ren began a mental countdown. _Three… two… one…_

" _Eeeeeeeeeeee_!" Nora was suddenly upon them. "That's so awesome! I've been waiting months for you to ask him out! When's your first date? Where are you going? What'll you wear?" She gasped. "Have you kissed yet?"

"We haven't really planned anything yet." Pyrrha admitted.

"Ooh, I have an idea!" Nora exclaimed. Ren began to mouth the words as Nora said them. "Let's go on a double date!" Ren smiled to himself; Nora could actually be pretty predictable sometimes. "We'll be going to the fair, and it's gonna be so much fun!"

"I dunno…" Jaune seemed uncertain. "What do you think Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha seemed to give it a good deal of thought, judging by how long she took to make a decision. "That sounds lovely, Nora." She smiled warmly. "Honestly, I'm still pretty nervous, and I think a double date might help."

Ren walked up to Jaune. "So," He said calmly. "Pyrrha asked you out."

"Yeah," Jaune replied happily. "Isn't it great?"

" _She_ asked _you_ out." He repeated. "She took the initiative." He shot Jaune a meaningful look.

"I… am a coward." Jaune muttered, staring shamefaced at the ground.

"Look at it another way," Ren offered. "Pyrrha liked you enough to risk rejection."

"She was never risking rejection." Jaune stated bluntly. "I'm not _that_ stupid."

"Smart enough to know a good thing when you see it?" Ren guessed.

"A _great_ thing." Jaune corrected. "Smart enough to know a _great_ thing."

"Fair enough." Ren smirked. "By the way, you do realise that Pyrrha heard our entire conversation, right?"

"She's my girlfriend." Jaune said, a smile on his face. "I don't see a problem with her knowing I have a crush on her."

"Once again, fair enough. "Ren conceded.

After a coupe seconds of silence, Jaune spoke up. "We're lucky guys."

"That we are." Ren agreed.

Jaune leaned in and lowered his voice. "Are you scared as well?"

"Terrified." Ren mumbled, just loud enough for Jaune to hear.

"Want to go get some advice from the experts?" Jaune asked.

"Experts?"

"You'll see when we meet them." Jaune replied.

Neptune was completely unsurprised to hear a knocking at his dorm's door. He wasn't surprised to see Jaune standing outside when he opened the door. He was a little surprised to see Ren, but he knew for a fact that he didn't show it, because that wouldn't be Cool, and, provided neither water nor dancing were involved, Neptune didn't do things that weren't Cool. "I was expecting you." Neptune said levelly and with a slight smirk that he'd spent years perfecting. "Congratulations, by the way. Although," He turned to focus on Jaune, his features shifting into a look of mild disapproval. "I guess a few of my lessons were wasted."

"Hehe, I guess so." Jaune at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"No big deal." Neptune waved it off calmly. "The result is what matters, and from what I heard, you've got yourself a date." He turned to face Ren. "Oh, and congratulations on your end, by the way." He smiled, carefully controlling the width of the smile, as well as the amount to which his teeth were made visible. "But you're not hear for congratulations, are you?"

"Jaune said you were some sort of expert." Ren said bluntly, with the merest, nigh imperceptible hint of disbelief in his voice.

"That's a pretty accurate description." Neptune replied, taking care to sound as if he didn't care whether or not Ren believed him. "So you came to me for advice." He said it as a statement, not a question. Little details like that were vital for maintaining his image, and Image was Everything. "Well, I'm afraid that I can't really help you much here."

"What?" Jaune sounded shocked.

"Jaune, I can charm girls, I can get a date out of them, but I'm not really one for long-term stuff."

"Seriously?" Jaune sounded annoyed.

"Hey, I don't mean I string them along or anything!" He felt a little frantic; he really didn't want people thinking he was that sort of person. "I've never gone after a girl who was looking for anything long-term, they're just looking to have fun!"

"Can we please focus?" Ren asked. "So you can't help us?"

"I can't." Neptune confirmed. "But I know who can. You want me to get him?"

"Sure." Jaune replied. "I'll take all the help I can get."

"Hey Scarlet! Could you come out here for a second?" After a few seconds, Scarlet came out. Neptune grinned as he saw Jaune's mute reaction to the boy: the fingerless glove on one hand, the tattoo around one eye, the hair… there was a lot to take in.

"What is it?" Scarlet asked.

"These guys need advice." Neptune explained simply.

"Right then." Scarlet said, apparently completely satisfied with that. "What did you need help with?"

"First dates." Jaune replied sheepishly.

"All right, well; do you like Pyrrha?" Jaune nodded enthusiastically. "And does she like you?"

"She asked me out." Jaune answered.

"Ren," Scarlet turned to face Ren. "Do you like Nora?" Ren silently nodded once. "Does she like you?" Again, a single nod. "Be yourselves, you'll be fine." He turned around and made to go back into his dorm, but Neptune intervened before he could take a step.

"Oh no you don't." Neptune said, standing between Scarlet and the door. "You're not getting out of helping them that easy."

"They'll be fine." Scarlet protested, sounding annoyed. "Why Should I help them out?"

"Scarlet, in my wallet I have a picture." Neptune warned. "Do you know what it's a picture of?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "It's a picture of a piece of bread, Scarlet." He opened his wallet and pulled out the offending photograph. "A piece of wet bread."

Scarlet cringed at the sight of the photo. "Oh _come on_!" Signs of nausea began to appear. "That's foul!" He made a gagging sound. "Urg, I just gobbed in my mouth."

"That's a real shame." Neptune replied calmly.

"Fine, I'll help them! Just put the bread away." Neptune nodded and slipped the photo back into his wallet. "You suck." Scarlet was not happy with him.

"Trust me Scarlet, if anyone needs help with women, it's Jaune." Neptune said with a smirk.

"Nice." Jaune deadpanned.

"Alright, I'll give you some more advice, just enough to stop you from getting absolutely mullered." Scarlet conceded, sounding a little less annoyed.

"And a conversation about long-term relationships would be my cue to leave." Neptune joked. "I don't want you guys infecting me with your monogamy." With that, he strolled back into his dorm.

Yang knew exactly what to expect when she heard someone knocking on Team RWBY's door. Of _course_ it was Pyrrha, and of _course_ she brought Nora along. "Hey there lover girl!" Yang smirked. "Bout time you bagged Jaune." She delighted in the blush that spread across Pyrrha's face; she'd been worried that Pyrrha might become less fun to tease once she finally got around to asking Jaune out. "And Nora too; congratulations, by the way." Nora didn't blush, she just grinned hugely. "You girls excited for your dates?" They nodded. "You nervous?" More nodding. "Okay, then tomorrow I'm taking you two shopping, and we can talk then."

Yang suspected that Pyrrha and Nora had been expecting her to show up a little later in the day, maybe mid-afternoon. Yang grinned to herself at that thought; they had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into. She checked the time again; 7:15 AM. Perfect. *WHAM!* *WHAM!* *WHAM!* Yang suspected that she may have knocked too hard, and hoped nobody noticed the small patch of wood now bare of paint. After a moment the door opened, revealing a drowsy-looking Jaune.

"Oh, hey Yang. Is there-" He was cut off by a yawn. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Sorry boys, but I'm gonna have to borrow your girlfriends for the day." Yang smirked. "Don't worry though, I'll take _good_ care of them." She winked. "I promise they'll still be able to wear white on their wedding day. Well, Nora will. Pyrrha…" Yang trailed off for a second before grinning evilly. "I might have a little trouble keeping my hands off her. But I guess you'd know all about that, right Arc Angel?" Jaune blushed at that comment, of course.

"I'll, uh, I'll wake Nora." Jaune didn't have to say anything about waking up Pyrrha, as she was very clearly awake already. Nora woke up after Jaune took to shaking her by the shoulder, and within half an hour Pyrrha and Nora were ready to go.

"Okay ladies," Yang grinned. "Let's get to work."

Jaune headed in for his shower, but for once he didn't sing. He was too busy thinking. After a few minutes, he'd made his mind up, and he towelled himself off, dressed, and walked out the door.

"Where's Nora?" Ren, who had apparently woken up while Jaune was in the shower, asked slightly groggily.

"Yang took her and Pyrrha for… something." Jaune ended lamely.

"And you let her?" Ren asked drily.

"Relax man, they're just shopping." Jaune reassured Ren.

"Did one of them tell you they were going shopping?" Ren asked pointedly.

"Nope." Jaune replied cheerfully.

"Then how do you know that's what they're doing?" Ren asked, again, somewhat pointedly.

"Seven sisters." Jaune replied. "I know what shopping and girl-talk sounds like."

"They're probably shopping for the date." Ren stated.

"Oh, definitely." There were a few moments of silence, then… "You have any nice clothes?"

"Apart from my uniform? No. You?"

"Same." More silence. "Yeah, we should probably go shopping."

With that, they headed out. Of course, they were a little worried about the prospect of running into the girls; it just seemed like something that might be kind of awkward, but that was solved by the expedient of the locator software built into the scrolls, intended to let Hunters find their teammates easily. "Just so we're clear here," Jaune began. "This isn't what the locator was made for."

"Oh, definitely." Ren agreed. "This is absolutely an abuse of power."

"And we're never going to use it like this again." Jaune said emphatically.

"Agreed."

"Okay," Jaune sighed as he looked up Pyrrha's location. "Just as long as we understand each other." A moment passed as Jaune checked the locator and… "Okay, Yang took them to the big mall, so as long as we stay away from it, we should be fine." It had already been agreed that being seen would be a bad idea; they'd end up with the choice between lying to their girlfriends, thus feeling like jerks without actually achieving anything, because come on, like Pyrrha and Nora would be fooled, or admitting that it somehow hadn't occurred to them to prepare for their dates until the girls were doing it. Yeah, not a great idea.

"I know a place downtown." Ren offered. "Nice clothes, not too expensive."

"Perfect." Jaune grinned. It was a pretty nice place; the sort of place that had a couple of old codgers wandering around, but still didn't bat an eye at the sight of two nervous teenagers (well, one nervous teenager and one Ren) walking through the door. They looked around for about half an hour before heading to the changing rooms. "Can I count on you for an honest opinion?" Jaune asked."

"Only if I can count on you for the same." Ren replied. With that, they headed into their respective changing rooms, emerging a minute later.

"Really Ren?" Jaune asked, a hint disdainfully. "Jeans and a black polo shirt?"

"What's wrong with it?" Ren asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"No it's fine man," Jaune grinned. "When your boring, it's best to just own it."

Ren frowned. "Says the guy dressed like his dad."

"What? I'm not…" Jaune looked down at himself; black slacks, white dress shirt and suspenders. "Oh wow, how did I miss that?"

"Try again?" Ren suggested.

"Try again." And a minute later… "Really Ren? All black?" Jaune couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ren's choice of a black dress shirt and black jeans. "Are you picking the most boring clothes possible on purpose?"

"Jaune." Ren said, his voice studiously blank. "You're dressed like the Fonz." Jaune looked down at himself; the jeans, the leather jacket…

"Aayyy." He smirked, shooting double finger-guns.

"I'm laughing on the inside, Jaune." Ren replied calmly. "Pyrrha doesn't have my restraint."

"We're bad at this." Jaune commented idly. Back in they went. "How about that." Jaune commented idly. "You actually found something that isn't boring." The black jeans were a good call; they fit him well, and of course, black goes with everything. The pale green dress shirt looked good, if a little plain, but it was the jacket that made it work. A forest green windbreaker with black accents was already a pretty good start, but it was the back that sealed the deal, because on the back, right between his shoulder blades, was a stylized depiction of a lotus, in the exact same shade of pink as Ren's eyes. "You've got to get this jacket." Jaune said insistently. "It's like it was made for you."

"I'd say you found your outfit, too." Ren commented looking Jaune up and down. Jaune took another look in the nearest mirror, and couldn't help but agree. The off-white Chinos he wore looked good on him, and they went well with his choice of shirts. Plural. The t-shirt was nice; thin horizontal black-and-grey stripes, with a deep burgundy Fleur-de-Lis in the middle of his chest. Over that he wore an unbuttoned dress shirt, midnight blue with a silver pinstripe pattern and a crescent moon picked in white thread out over the left breast. He didn't mean to be arrogant, but he looked _good_.

"Yeah, we're done." Jaune said, surprised that he'd actually found clothes he looked good in. After changing back into their normal clothes, they headed to the register. "Hey man," Jaune waved Ren away as he went to pay. "This one's on me."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ren asked, sounding skeptical.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure that I'd still be single if you hadn't asked Nora out." Jaune joked. "Really lit a fire under me and Pyrrha." He grinned. "So let me pay you back for that, okay?"

"You sure you can afford to do something like that?" Ren asked politely.

"Oh, trust me; this isn't about to break the bank." Jaune chuckled.

"What, did your parents give you a lot of walking-around money?" Ren asked.

"Didn't need to." Jaune replied cheerfully. "Since my fourteenth birthday right up until I left for Beacon, I took babysitting jobs in my hometown. I, uh, ended up being in pretty high demand."

"High demand?" Ren asked disbelievingly.

"I needed paperwork to make sure I didn't double-book." Jaune replied bluntly. "I got this."

Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Nora were having a little trouble finding suitable clothes, to Yang's annoyance. "Pyrrha, too boring." Yang said plainly. "Nora, too exciting; this is just a first date, save something for later." And back they went. This went on for another fifteen minutes as Pyrrha grew more and more frustrated.

"What about this?" She asked, a shade more acerbically than necessary. "Is this alright?"

Yang looked her over critically. "Not bad," Pyrrha felt a flicker of hope; was she finally done? "But the colour's no good." So much for that. "Change it out for one in red and you've got yourself an outfit." Pyrrha brightened up considerably at that, and tried not to read too much into the fact that Nora had been done for ten minutes.

"I can't help noticing that my outfit shows a little more than Nora's." Pyrrha noted, leaving the question unsaid.

"That's because you and Jaune haven't had your first kiss yet." Yang replied matter-of-factly. "And you can't make the first move on this one."

This was news to Pyrrha. "What? Why not?"

"Because," Yang replied, sounding like she was stating the obvious. "You always make the first move." After a moment of silence, she sighed, apparently depressed by the fact that Pyrrha didn't understand. "You saved him in the forest when he didn't have a landing strategy, you joined up with him, you offered to train him, and you asked him out." Another moment of silence.

"And?" Pyrrha asked, completely lost.

"Seriously?" Yang actually sounded a little angry at this point, and Nora began to giggle, apparently in on the joke. "Okay, I'll keep it simple; if you make the first move here, Jaune's ego is definitely taking a hit."

"What? Why?" Pyrrha asked, no less confused than before.

"Because he's a guy!" Yang exclaimed. "He's got an ego like glass! But if you let him take the initiative on this one, it'll make him feel all manly and confident, which you definitely want." She smirked. "Trust me, it'll make things a lot more fun for both of you. Besides, you don't want him to always expect you to take the lead, do you?" Pyrrha stopped to consider it; always having to initiate… well, everything. No spontaneity, no excitement…

"Alright, so how do I make sure he kisses me?" Pyrrha asked, her mind made up.

Yang grinned diabolically. "Well, I have a few ideas…"

Author's Notes: I can't believe I devoted so many words to so little actually happening. Did I really spend whole paragraphs doing a dress-up sequence? Yeah, so… my masculinity has never been more precarious. And as for what the girls are wearing for the big day, well… you'll know next chapter, when I've actually worked it out myself. Okay, let's see; what else is there to say? I enjoyed having Yang approach things from a super analytical perspective at the end, and I had a legitimate reason for making Scarlet the one who knew what he was talking about when it came to relationships: Sun has the abs, Neptune has his carefully crafted image (which was fun to write, by the way, and Sage is just a badass, but Scarlet doesn't really have any major advantages, he's voiced by Gavin, and his hair is just… no. So I figured that he'd be the one who'd have to put the most effort into it, and therefore the expert. As always, please review, and the next chapter will be up when it's up.


	16. Chapter 16: Step right up!

The day had come, and the hour drew near; it was almost time for Team JNPR's double date, and Jaune was doing what Jaune did; worrying. "Is my hair okay?" He asked nervously.

Ren rolled his eyes. "There's a hand mirror on the dresser. Which you are standing next to."

"Right, right." Jaune picked up the mirror and took a look at himself, finding that his hair hadn't magically un-combed itself in the past fifteen minutes, and was still in a neat side-part. "Is there something in my teeth?"

"Jaune," Ren replied, signs of annoyance beginning to bleed into his voice. "You're still holding the mirror."

"Sorry! Nerves." Jaune checked and, nope, nothing in his teeth. He glanced up at the clock for the fifth time; 5:27, just three minutes before they were meant to be heading out for an evening/night at the fair. He checked his breath, and was inordinately relieved when he discovered that it hadn't magically turned putrid in the five minutes since he'd gargled a frankly gratuitous amount of mouthwash. He checked the clock again; 5:28. Yeah, it had been a pretty rough wait.

Yang burst in, grinning hugely. "I hope you boys are ready, because these girls sure are!" At that, Nora walked, no, _skipped_ into the room wearing a purple sundress. The dress was nice; simple and sort of playful, a good match for Nora. She also wore, well, a lot of white; white sports jacket kept unzipped, white knee-high socks, and white sneakers. Yang's handiwork was also evident on her face; a touch of blush, a little pink lipstick and just the merest application of mascara (seven sisters pretty much guarantee a working knowledge of makeup). It was, in a word, cute. A quick sidelong glance at Ren was enough to know that he thought so too.

"So," Jaune grinned. "You, uh, like Yang's handiwork?" He couldn't help but smirk at the look that he'd seen flash momentarily across Ren's face. The tiny blush, the widening of his eyes; it was pretty obvious that yes, Ren liked Yang's handiwork.

"Yeah, I do." And suddenly, Ren was smirking. "But I bet I'm not the only one." He nodded towards the door.

"What are you-" Jaune fell silent, not out of courtesy, but simply because he couldn't see to remember how to form words.

"Well, what do you think?" Pyrrha asked, spreading her arms and smiling nervously.

"I…" Jaune tried to talk but nope; he still couldn't remember how talking happened. Oum, she was _stunning_. The denim skirt and black leggings that showed off exactly how great her legs were, the little black boots with the 2 inch heels that just served to enhance the effect; it was almost too much for Jaune to handle. And the top! It was the exact same colour as her hair (and, Jaune suspected, his face at that moment), cut to show off her midriff, with a shallow v-neck, just deep enough to give a tiny little part of Jaune's imagination something to get to work on, and, overall, it was a little more… snug than Jaune was ready for, with an unzipped leather jacket over the top. And yet, despite these ample distractions, it was her face that Jaune found himself fixated on (eventually, he was still a teenage boy, after all).

"Going out on a limb here," Yang joked. "But I think he likes it." Jaune barely even heard her, he was too busy staring at Pyrrha's face. Much like Nora, it was a fairly subtle makeup job; a light dusting of blush, a little mascara and some lipstick, but with one addition. She had eyeshadow, once again a very light application, the exact same shade as her eyes. Combined with the lipstick matching her hair, the rest of the makeup and, of course, the clothes, the overall result was like a few thousand volts to the hormonal part of Jaune's brain.

'Wow…" Jaune muttered under his breath before finally marshalling his thoughts. "Wow! You look… wow!"

"Articulate, aren't you?" Yang joked.

"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed in annoyance. "You're the one who dressed her up like that!"

"You don't like it?" Pyrrha asked, looking worried.

"Don't like it?" Jaune had to bite back laughter. "Pyrrha, you look so amazing I forgot how to speak!"

Pyrrha blushed pretty astonishingly at that, before smiling. "Thank you Jaune; you look very nice too."

"I dunno." Yang said. "Something doesn't look right to me." After a moment, Pyrrha reached out and mussed up Jaune's hair, returning it to its normal state. "Much better."

"Is there a reason you're still here?" Jaune asked, trying to remain polite.

"Just this." Yang replied cheerfully, pulling up her scroll. "Smile for the camera!"

After posing for a photo that Yang refused to show them, they were off, and Jaune was faced with the first big challenge of the night; the airship. "Oh boy." Jaune murmured to himself, reaching for the roll of mints in his pocket as he felt his stomach begin to stir. "Okay, I can handle this."

"Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"I'm fine." Jaune said, trying his best to ignore his rising nausea. "Just a little airsickness, and nerves." He felt his stomach lurch; the mints had helped a little, but his nausea was worsening too fast for them to help. He began to worry that he'd ruin his date before it had even started by throwing up when Pyrrha placed a hand on his back, beginning to move it slowly in a circle. "Pyrrha what are you doing?"

"It helps with seasickness." Pyrrha explained. "So it should help here." It did. It helped enormously, although honestly, Jaune wouldn't have objected even if it hadn't worked at all; if his girlfriend (the thought still sent a delightful thrill up his spine) wanted to touch him, he sure wasn't about to stop her. It could have been making things much worse, and he'd have still kept quiet right up until it was time to bolt for the nearest trashcan.

"Thanks Pyrrha, th-that really helped." He mentally kicked himself for stuttering; Pyrrha had been his friend for months! Why was he so nervous around her? _Beeecause she's way too good for you? Because you're afraid you'll mess this up because you ALWAYS mess EVERYTHING up? Take your pick, there's plenty more._

They landed before long and, after a brief walk, they were at the fair. After a brief discussion, it was decided that they'd split up, meeting for dinner and deciding what to do next from there. Ren didn't quite see the point of going on a double date only to immediately split up, but he hadn't exactly been 100% sold on the idea, so he wasn't about to raise any objections. They were at a fair, with all the normal carnival attractions, meaning that…

"Ooh! Test of strength!" Nora exclaimed, drawn to the attraction that caught her eye at every fair. Meaning it was time for Ren to perform his customary duty.

"Excuse me sir, are apprentice Hunters allowed to play this game?" They'd played carnival games without asking this in advance once before. Once.

The man working the Test Your Might game, a big burly man in his fifties with a, unkempt pencil mustache and a flat cap, grinned hugely. "Heck kid, ya think we'd set up in Vale if da hunners couldn't play? Just don't use any a' dat Semblance stuff and you can play any game in da carnival. Jus' tellem so's dey can set it up for hunners." With that, he flipped a switch and gestured for Nora to take a swing.

*WHAM!* *DING!* Nora won, of course. "Ooh, I want the sloth!" Nora exclaimed, pointing to the top prize shelf where, yes, there really was a life-sized plush sloth.

"Say, yer friend wouldn't happen ta use a hammer, would she?" The man asked quietly.

"A big one." Ren replied, smirking ever-so-slightly.

"Dat, ah… dat'd explain a lot." He took his cap off. "Dat would most coitainly make sense a' dat right dere. Dat was one heckuva swing, dat was."

Ren couldn't help but ask. "You're putting on an accent, aren't you?"

A grin. "Yeah, I'm puttin' it on a little, da customers like it, so who'm I ta argue, ya know?"

"Fair enough." With that, he and Nora headed to the next attraction. Ren decided to actually play one of the carnival games, going for the balloon pop. "Just so you know, I'm an apprentice Hunter."

"First or second year?" The man operating the stall, who was tall and rake-thin, asked him.

"First year." The man flipped a switch and a new set of score requirements popped up for the prizes. *POP!* *POP!* *POP!* The man running the game took a sharp little breath through his teeth. "Okay kid, you can get one prize from the top shelf, two from the middle shelf or four from the bottom." He hesitated a moment. "Or one from the middle shelf and two from the bottom, I guess."

"Well Nora, what would you like?" He couldn't help but smile at her wide-eyed look of joy; for as long as he could remember, Nora had always like the kitschy knick-knacks that carnival games gave out as prizes.

"I'll take the beanie on the middle shelf!" She cried, pointing to a truly ridiculous hat, with ear flaps, a little woollen bobble at the top, and googly eyes. "Ooh, and what's that ring on the middle shelf?"

"That'd be a mood ring, little lady."

Ren's eyebrow shot up sceptically. "Shouldn't something like that be on the bottom shelf?"

"If it were the usual junk, then yes, it would be." The man grinned. "But that mood ring's the real deal; it's got a tiny dust crystal that'll react to your Aura and change colour to match your emotions."

"You'd better give her the ring." Ren said plainly, his face splitting into a rare grin as Nora squealed with delight and pulled him into a hug, kissing him on the cheek.

"Here you are little lady." The man handed Nora the ring, along with a small card. "And that tells you what colours are what moods."

Ren eyed the crystal turning bright yellow as Nora slipped on the ring, and took a look at the card. "Happiness. That sounds about right." With that, Nora donned her ludicrous hat, and they set out. Before long, they were going on the teacup ride, the rollercoaster (emblazoned with a rather short, stocky man screaming, the speech balloon saying 'I am monster truck!'), everything that went fast. Ren didn't really care much for them, honestly. On the other hand, he absolutely _loved_ seeing Nora's face when she rode them. She just looked so _free_ , laughing her head off, eyes bright. He smiled (he'd been doing that a lot) and reached over to hold her hand. It occurred to him that things hadn't really changed much since they started dating; it was just they're friendship with more hand-holding and kissing. The thought appealed to him; if it was already so comfortable, then he felt confident that they'd be able to make it last.

"Ooh! Cotton candy!" And off she went, propelled by sheer childish glee. Unfortunately, childish glee doesn't really mesh with caution, meaning that it was really rather unsurprising when she bumped into someone else who wasn't paying attention, although quite likely for different reasons. "Oops, sorry!"

"Watch where you're- oh." Ren could read the guys face like a book, and he didn't like the story. "No harm done, gorgeous. What brings a nice girl like you to a place like this?"

Ren couldn't resist. "You mean the carnival? That seems like the sort of place where you'd expect nice girls to show up."

He glared at Ren, giving Ren an opportunity to really take everything in and just… wow. "And you are?" His voice was very annoying; a nasally tone that just sounded arrogant. He looked to be around their age, although a lot more gangly and… fragrant. Body spray, the kind with ads based around objectifying women, surrounded him like a cloud, which complemented the look on his face that made it clear that he thought he was a Don Juan type. He was not. His low-rider jeans were bad enough, but they were made worse by the addition of a wife-beater that, if Ren was any judge, might one day become tragically appropriate. But the real crowning glory of awful had to be the hair.

"Her boyfriend." Ren replied, remaining, with effort, completely calm. The boy had bleached blonde hair, but that wasn't the worst part. It was a mullet, but that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was that the 'party at the back' was made entirely out of rat-tails. Really. And it was exactly as bad as it sounds.

"Whaaat?" The boy, who Ren mentally named 'Rattus', drew the word out, grinning like he was proud of himself for thinking up such a clever way to convey his disbelief. "Why'd a girl like you waste your time on a loser like that?" He laughed, sounding like a blocked sink. "Man, this guy's bringing me down just by being here!" He shook his head dismissively "Girl, drop the downer over there and get with a real man!" He grinned sleazily. "Like me."

He probably should have actually payed attention to Nora's reaction, but again; mullet made of rat-tails. He clearly wasn't the sort of guy to make good decisions. "What did you say about Ren?" Nora's voice had a heavy component of shaking to it; never a good sign.

"Ren? What, is that Mr. Sunshine's name?" He chuckled, pointing at Ren and slipping an arm around Nora's shoulders. Big mistake.

"Apologise." Nora said, her tone of voice a warning to any sane individual.

"Well hey, hotstuff, I'm just sorry you got yourself stuck with such a bummer." Big mistake. Nora's ring was blood red, and Ren didn't even need the card to know that it meant anger.

" _HIII-YAH!_ " Nora grabbed the Rattus by the arm he'd so foolishly slung over her shoulder, gripped tightly with both hands, and _heaved_. "Never talk about my Renny that way again!" She yelled at the now-prone idiot, who looked somewhat confused as to how a rather petite girl wearing a sundress and a _preposterous_ wool hat had managed to land him flat on his back. "He's a bazillion times the man _you_ are!" Ren knew he shouldn't have grinned at the moron's misfortune, but he did anyway.

"A whole bazillion, huh?" Ren asked jokingly, throwing his own arm over Nora's shoulder.

"Yep!" Nora exclaimed happily. "Maybe even two!" Ren couldn't resist; she was just too damn cute. Of _course_ he went for a kiss, and of _course_ Nora replied in kind. It was odd; he'd never really pictured himself as the type to kiss in public, but throw Nora into the mix, and honestly, he couldn't care less where he was. Heck, when he was kissing Nora, he barely _remembered_ where he was. "Hey, Ren?"

"Yes Nora?" Ren already knew exactly what was coming…

"Boop." Correction; he'd known _most_ of what was coming. The tap on the nose, the little 'boop' noise, he'd seen those coming from a mile away. The butt-grabbing, although welcome, was unexpected.

It was honestly a little disconcerting, Pyrrha reflected. In Beacon, Jaune depended on her expertise, her knowledge and her experience. But as soon as the set foot in the carnival, she found that dynamic turned on its head. She hadn't visited a carnival since she was a little girl, having been a little busy with the whole 'tournament champion' thing, but Jaune had apparently been to several every year with his various sisters, being the chaperone of first resort to every carnival, fair, fete and circus that his hometown saw. Quite simply, he was in his _element_.

"You getting kinda hungry?" Jaune asked her brightly. Pyrrha nodded. "Okay then, let's get you some food!" With that, he led her at a sedate pace towards a stall selling pastries. "Judging by the number of staff and the rate that they're selling those elephant ears at, there should be a fresh batch coming out in 5,4,3,2…" One of the people manning the stall brought out a tray loaded with steaming hot pastries, at pretty much the same as Jaune and Pyrrha reached the stall. "Now. Two Elephant Ears, please!"

"Well, mister Arc, you're certainly making an impression." Pyrrha joked, biting into the sweet, warm cinnamon-flavoured pastry.

"Please, mister Arc is my father… would say that mister Arc was _his_ father, who would say the same about his father…" He shrugged. "And so on. Besides," He winked. "I'm just getting started."

It amazed Pyrrha, it really did. Somehow, Jaune just kept swinging wildly between pathetically nervous and ridiculously smooth, and she couldn't quite get used to one before he'd swung back to the other. "Well then, what should we do next?" She asked, fluttering her eyelashes like Yang showed her.

"The haunted mansion's always fun." Jaune offered. The haunted mansion. As in, a place where people were expected to be scared. A place where a girl might find herself so frightened that she threw herself into her boyfriend's arms for comfort.

"Sounds like a plan." Pyrrha said. After all, you didn't get to be a champion without learning to spot opportunities when they presented themselves.

She saw a brief flash of nervous indecision on his face. "Well, we'd better, uh, hold hands. You know, to make sure we don't get separated." Normally, she'd find his awkwardness endearing, but she was aiming to get a kiss out of him by the end of the night, and he was so shy he needed to come up with an excuse to hold her hand; not ideal. She took his hand and, remembering more of Yang's advice, pulled his arm in close to her, so that it rested… well, his arm was in contact with her chest, and Jaune was beginning to blush, that's all that really needs saying.

The haunted house was… a little better executed than she'd been expecting; the artfully concealed smoke machines really added to the atmosphere. And Pyrrha was starting to realise that she'd never actually been to a haunted house attraction before, and that this one looked a little too intense to be her first. It occurred to her that 'too intense to be her first' was a phrase that Yang would have a field day with.

The next few minutes were a lot rougher than Pyrrha had anticipated. The haunted house was simply nightmarish; every shadow seemed to hide some new horror, she could hear _things_ moving in the dark, but she couldn't pinpoint them (at one point the sounds seemed to be coming from right behind her, but that wasn't as bad as when it sounded like they were coming from inside her head), and the air was cool and slightly clammy. In short, when Pyrrha found herself clinging to Jaune, it wasn't just an act. And that lead her to notice something incongruous.

"Hah! This place is great!" Jaune wasn't even remotely scared. He was having fun. He was enjoying himself while she was terrified. _What part of this picture doesn't make any sense?_

"You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself." Pyrrha hazarded, cringing at the obvious forced cheerfulness in her tone.

"Of course!" Jaune exclaimed. "This is the best haunted house I've seen in years!"

"You've been to a lot of haunted houses?" Pyrrha asked, flinching at a drawn out scream of unknown providence.

"Tons." Jaune replied happily. "A couple of my sisters love these places, and I usually ended up chaperoning them. Heck, I've been to so many of these, I can see the scares coming a mile off!"

"Oh really?" Pyrrha asked, a shade disbelievingly.

"Just watch." Jaune said, puffing out his chest. "Bat." He pointed to a spot on the ceiling where, sure enough, a rather convincing plastic bat dropped out. "Guy wearing two pounds of makeup." He gestured to a shadow and, would you look at that, a man made up to look like the victim of a disturbingly artistic act of mutilation burst out. "Spider." Yep. "Head that won't stop screaming." How could he have predicted something that specific? "And blood-curdling scream ending in a gurgle in three, two, one…"

" _EEEEYYAAARRRGHHHrglegrglele…_ "

"And a moment of silence," Jaune held up his hand. "Broken by an evil laugh… Now."

"Muhuhuahahahahaha!" Jaune looked pointedly at Pyrrha.

" _Now_ do you believe me?" He asked, uncharacteristically smug. The haunted house took on a very different atmosphere after that, with Jaune predicting every attempt to scare them before it could happen, killing the tension and dread, and replacing it, mostly, with a lot of laughter, the crowning glory being when they managed to scare one of the haunted house employees themselves. "So, what now?" Jaune asked as they walked out the door.

"This way, this way. Step right up, right heah, right heah, right heah!" It was pretty hard to ignore the carnival barker at the rifle range; his bizarre old-timey voice and sheer enthusiasm made him stand out somewhat. "Come on, this way, this way, this way!" The handlebar moustache was what really sold it; combined with the red and white striped shirt and the flat straw hat, he was just too much of a stereotypical carnival barker for them not to approach him. "That's the ticket! Right heah!" He cast a look of distrust toward Pyrrha. "You look familah, girly. You someone I oughtta know?" Before she could answer, the man snapped his fingers. "Why, you're that Nikos gal! Well, champion or not, I guess I can only really set it for a first yeeah at Beacon." With that, he flipped a switch and the targets began to move a lot faster. "Just take the rifle and hit 'em right in the cannippens!"

"One moment please." Jaune interjected, grabbing the rifle before Pyrrha could pick it up and studying it thoroughly. "Cute." He muttered drily, scowling slightly.

"What's wrong?" Pyrrha enquired.

"The barrel's bent." Jaune stated matter-of-factly. "You try to shoot with this thing, your shots are gonna go wide by about two inches."

"What?" The carnival barker sounded surprised. "Let me see that, sonny!" After a few seconds of feverish inspection, he handed it back, looking apologetic. "Sorry 'bout that. Not sure how that happened, but I run a fair game here, so why don't you take one of the other rifles and give it a try?"

"No need." Pyrrha assured him, before picking up the offending rifle and focusing on it. After a few seconds, she engulfed it in her Semblance, straightening the barrel and sighting along it to be sure. "There, I think I got it straight."

"Well, there goes the bend!" The carnie seemed to be directing this at one of the targets. "That's a real bad thing for youu; Gavin 3."

"Gavin?" Jaune asked, sounding utterly baffled.

"The name of a friend I don' much like." He replied, his accent shifting.

"Pyrrha raised the rifle to her shoulder, looked along the sights once more and… * _Bang! Ding!* *Bang! Ding!* *Bang! Ding! Bang Ding! Bang! Ding!*_ Five bullseyes.

"I tol' you, now didn't I?" The barker addressed a stricken target.

"I think it's dead." Jaune chuckled.

"I know, ah'm still talkin to'im doe." Again, the accent changed, becoming quite strange.

"You know, you've gone through three different accents since we started this conversation." Pyrrha pointed out.

He grinned. "It's an accent fer every occasion." Pyrrha, in keeping with the traditions of a carnival-goer, chose the biggest stuffed animal available; a plush lion the size of a labrador.

"How did you know to check the rifle?" Pyrrha asked, cradling her ridiculous prize.

"Oh please, that's the oldest trick in the book." Jaune replied cheerfully. "I've seen that trick dozens of times."

"You think it was a trick? He seemed surprised."

"Eh, the jury's still out." Jaune shrugged.

"Well, I don't think-" Pyrrha was cut off when she bumped into a man who seemed to come out of nowhere. "Oh, excuse me."

"Nothing to excuse." The man replied calmly. He looked to be in his mid to late-thirties, with short, neatly combed black hair and pale blue eyes. He was tall, with the sort of slender build that suggests a great deal of strength. And he was creepy; the pallid complexion was bad enough, but the way he was staring was making her uncomfortable. Of course, as a teenage girl in the public eye, Pyrrha was no stranger to men in their thirties staring at her creepily, but it didn't make it any less unpleasant. And worst of all, that stupid media coach her agent had hired after she started to become a public figure had conditioned her so that she was no good at getting rid of creeps; apparently asking people to stop blatantly ogling her would be 'ungracious', so she'd been trained not to say anything unless they actually touched her.

Luckily, Jaune had no such training, and didn't care in the slightest about being ungracious. "Hey, quit staring at Pyrrha!"

The man turned his head so fast Pyrrha half expected it to crack like a whip, staring at Jaune for a few seconds before breaking into the most unnatural-looking grin she'd ever seen. "Apologies." With that, he melted into the crowd, disappearing from sight within a few seconds.

"Well…" Jaune began. "That was weird."

"Not really." Pyrrha sighed. "I've had this sort of thing happen a lot."

"What?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"It's just part of being famous." She sighed.

"Well it's messed up." Jaune replied, a hint of steel in his voice. "You shouldn't have to put up with that."

"My media coach thinks otherwise," Pyrrha began. "And my agent agrees."

"Maybe I need to have a little chat with them." Jaune growled. "You know, just to set things straight."

"Just talking?" Pyrrha asked doubtfully.

"Well, communicating." Jaune replied. "Getting my point across."

"With your sword?" Pyrrha guessed.

"It might make an appearance." Jaune conceded. Pyrrha found that she had to restrain herself from abandoning the plan and kissing Jaune then and there; righteous anger combined with adorable overprotectiveness made for a potent combination.

"It's certainly tempting…" Pyrrha joked. "But maybe you should just stick to scaring off creepy men, okay?"

"Sure thing." Jaune chuckled, throwing his arm over her shoulder. _Interesting; dealing with that strange man seems to have done something to Jaune. But is it that he's more confident, or just feeling protective? Does it matter? He's finally making a move!_ Pyrrha gave up on analysing Jaune's sudden change in behaviour, instead resting her head on his shoulder and resolving to enjoy it. They wandered the carnival, playing a couple of games, being thoroughly unimpressed by the 'tent of mysteries', and riding the bumper cars (Jaune turned into an absolute terror when he got behind the wheel of that thing). Eventually, they gravitated, almost inexorably, to the Ferris wheel.

"Any particular reason why you wanted us to ride the Ferris wheel?" Pyrrha enquired.

"You gotta respect the classics." Jaune replied, a big cheesy grin plastered across his face. And with that, they embarked. It was… nice, she supposed, but a little dull. They were just sort of sitting there, and she could only stare at the carnival from above for so long. "Hey, come check out the view on this side!" Jaune sounded excited, so of course Pyrrha got up to take a look out of the window on his side and…

"It's beautiful!" It really was; the sun was setting, and it was like the whole sky had caught fire. Vibrant splashes of red, orange and gold filled her view, the few scattered clouds tinted pink by the light and the rooftops shining pale red and yellow. A few birds flitted and played while huge, stately airships slowly made their way through the sky. The harbour, only just within view reflected a jumbled mass of colour, and it was one of those wonderful days where the moon became faintly visible before nightfall, adding a final touch to one of the most gorgeous views Pyrrha had ever seen.

"Yeah, they really picked a great spot to set up." Jaune noted. "This is the perfect place."

"The perfect place? For what?" Pyrrha asked, tearing her eyes away from the beautiful panorama for a moment, only to be taken aback when she saw Jaune's face inching towards her own.

"Kissing the girl of my dreams on a Ferris wheel." Jaune smiled, looking a little nervous. "Like I said, you gotta respect the classics." Suddenly, he jerked back, looking worried. "I mean, if that's okay with you, because, I mean, I'd hate for you to feel like you're being pressured into anything and if you're not comfortable with this then that's fine, I mean, we can take it slow if you'd prefer, because really, it's your choice and-"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted, before returning to a normal speaking tone. "You'd better hurry up; we're not going to be up here forever."

Jaune's face lit up. "Oh! Well, if you're sure…" He began to lean back in, cupping her face with one hand.

"No words." Pyrrha whispered, noting to herself that his hand, while gentle, wasn't as soft as she'd expected; rather, it was coarse and calloused, the hand of a swordsman.

"Just feelings." And with that, he closed the final couple of inches between them, bringing their lips together. Barring the trashy romance novels and smut that Blake had passed on to her, Pyrrha didn't really have any point of comparison, but she was pretty sure that, as first kisses went, Jaune did well. He was very gentle, his lips capturing her own as he softly stroked her cheek with his thumb. And she loved every instant of it; her blood was pounding in her ears and she was fairly certain that, had she been standing up, her knees would have buckled under her. After a few seconds, she felt Jaune begin to pull away, and she recalled another little tidbit of advice from Yang: _you want to make sure he starts your first kiss, but after that it's fair game._

Jaune couldn't believe it. He was kissing Pyrrha. _He_ was kissing Pyrrha. He _was_ kissing Pyyrha. He was _kissing_ Pyrrha. He was kissing _Pyrrha_. _He was kissing Pyrrha_! The mind boggled! How did a loser like him manage to end up with a one of a kind girl like Pyrrha? Suffice to say, he was enjoying himself, and so, to his amazement, was Pyrrha, as far as he could tell. After another couple of seconds, he decided that it was probably time to pull back… only for Pyrrha's hand to snake around the back of his head as soon as he tried, pulling him back in. Jaune had made sure to kiss Pyrrha softly and sweetly the first time; he didn't want to make her uncomfortable or move too fast, after all. But this time, it was very clear that words like 'soft' and 'sweet' weren't really going to be applicable.

She was going to _town_ on him; stopping just short of discomfort, she was kissing him a lot more aggressively than he'd been ready for. And it was the single most exhilarating experience of his life: killing his first Grimm (he knew that Pyrrha helped him), beating Cardin, his 'landing strategy', none of them had given him a rush like this. For the first couple of seconds, he was just enjoying the sensation so much that he forgot to kiss back. Of course, it was only a couple of seconds before he realised his mistake and corrected it. With gusto. Within a few seconds, Pyrrha had one hand pressed against his chest, and he began to wonder where he could put his hands. _Right hand on the back of her head, left hand on her back moving in a slow circle and no funny business._ That was… probably his best bet, so he decided to just go with it.

"Hey lovebirds, the ride's over!" The ride operator's voice dragged Jaune's attention, momentarily back to the world in general, where he noticed that the Ferris wheel had indeed stopped moving. "Come on, don't make me get the hose." Reluctantly, they separated, and Jaune was, if he were being honest with himself, more than a little gratified to see how flushed Pyrrha's face was.

"Sorry about that," Jaune addressed the ride operator. "We were kind of distracted."

"I'll say." The operator sniggered.

"We're sorry for holding everything up." Pyrrha said, sounding thoroughly embarrassed.

"Ah, forget it." The operator waved his hand dismissively. "You're not the first couple to make out on the Ferris wheel tonight, and you won't be the last." Blushing profusely, they hopped out of the Ferris wheel and went on their way. After a moment, a thought occurred to Jaune, and he checked the time on his scroll.

"Oh! We're meant to be meeting up with Ren and Nora to have dinner!" With that, he grabbed Pyrrha's hand (not strictly necessary, but enjoyable), and they rushed over to the food pavilion. "Sorry we're late, guys!" Jaune exclaimed breathlessly when they reached their friends. "We just got a little sidetracked and you guys didn't even notice we were late, did you?" Indeed, Ren and Nora looked like they'd had other things on their mind, namely each other.

"We noticed." Ren replied calmly. "We just didn't mind waiting."

"I can guess why." Pyrrha giggled.

"You're hardly one to talk." Ren noted drily. "I wonder what had you two _sidetracked_." Jaune felt himself blush at that, and he saw that Pyrrha was reacting in pretty much the same way.

"Ooh!" Suddenly, Nora was right in his face, bright eyed and grinning like a complete and total maniac (in other words, nothing out of the ordinary). "Were you guys kissing? Was it romantic?" He suddenly gasped, before leaning in with a conspiratorial look on her face. "Was it _steamy_?"

"Okay!" Jaune exclaimed, eager to change the subject. "Let's get some dinner! I think I'll grab a burger! How about you Pyrrha, what do you want?!" He cringed inwardly at the desperation in his voice, but he _really_ wasn't comfortable talking about his love life. It them a few minutes to get their food, but before long they congregated to a table with their respective meals. Pyrrha had picked for a few slices of pizza (Jaune saw olives, bell pepper, mushrooms, tomato, and three kinds of meat), Ren had opted for a large burrito (unexpected, but whatever), Nora had gone with a plate of ribs (that was _definitely_ going to get messy), and Jaune had a burger that was just plain gratuitous. Start with a typical, run-of-the-mill hamburger. Now add caramelized onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles (because they're _delicious_ , and anyone who disagrees is _wrong_ ), and beetroot (like with pickles, only more so). Now make it about 20% bigger than you first imagined, and add a _lot_ of fries. "I love eating at carnivals."

They made small talk while they ate, except for Nora, who was singularly engrossed in her dinner (it was actually quite horrifying, if Jaune was being honest), mostly just about what they'd done at the carnival, and before long they were done. Pyrrha had helped herself to a lot of Jaune's fries, but he'd gotten used to that sort of things years ago thanks to his sisters, which was why he'd ordered extra. "As much as I've enjoyed tonight," Ren began while patiently dabbing at the sauce and grease that had fairly thoroughly covered a decent amount of Nora's face thanks to her 'hungry dog' table manners (how were her clothes still spotless?) with the practiced air of someone used to such things. "I'm really not sure why we made this a double date if we were just going to split up."

"Hey, give me a little credit." Jaune joked. "I just thought you guys might like us out of your hair for a while."

"Right." Ren replied sarcastically. "And it wasn't because you wanted to get Pyrrha alone."

"Of course I wanted to get Pyrrha alone!" Jaune exclaimed. "And you wanted some one-on-one time with Nora. Now we've had that, we've still got time to do some stuff together before we need to head back."

"Ooh! I wanna play laser tag!" Nora crowed excitedly. And, sure enough, there was a rather impressive laser tag arena set up nearby.

"That sounds fun." Pyrrha said.

"Well, if you guys want to…"

 _Two minutes later…_

"Ren, Nora, you take the left flank! Pyrrha, with me on the right! Watch your sixes everyone, and remember; if things get heavy you fall back to the smoke machine. It has decent cover nearby, and the smoke is good optical cover!" Jaune barked out orders, surveying the smoky, dimly-lit battlefield. "You, in the red shirt! Careful rounding that corner, you could be walking right into a-see, I tried to warn you!" Nora was laughing like a madwoman, firing at anything that moved and some things that didn't, while Ren took out anyone who aimed at her. Pyrha was at his side, making perfect shot after perfect shot, and he… wasn't really hitting much, in all honesty. Suffice to say, they won by a wide margin.

Author's notes: Bet you weren't expecting this chapter to end in laser tag. I'm honestly not sure why I took it in that direction; I guess I just felt like ending with something stupid. Although, coming up with this did lead to my developing the headcanon that Jaune's knack for tactical thinking was developed through team activities with his sisters. So… have all this fluff, with some references thrown in for good measure (I dare you to find them all). Some of you probably have some ideas about who the creepy guy might be, so have fun with that. The burger I described in this chapter is a proper Australian fish and chip shop burger with pickles added because I'm one of those weirdos who like pickles in their burgers. Okay, what else… the kid with the horrible hair? I saw someone with that hair, and it seared itself into my mind, to the point where I had to include it. Now, onto correcting some mistakes I made in previous chapters. First up is Jaune's blood type; I goofed. O positive is the universal receiver, not the universal donor, which is O negative. And then there's the big mistake I need to correct; My Chemical Romance is _not_ screamo. That was down to me using the term without actually looking up the meaning. I actually _love_ My Chemical Romance. Well, I love their last two albums. Everything before that I can take or leave. So, time for an accurate description. Early MCR is neogothic pop-punk/emo. The Black Parade would best be described as an emo/pop-punk concept album with occasional cabaret/vaudeville influences, and Danger days in post-apocalyptic pseudopop with a dash of punk. _Helena_ is overrated, _Mama_ and _Cancer_ are the best tracks in The Black Parade, and Dangers Days is the musical equivalent of one of Gerard Way's insane comics (yes, he writes comics). There. Done.


	17. Chapter 17: Things go well

Jaune woke up feeling uncertain. Specifically, he felt uncertain about the night before; not about his feelings regarding it, which were overwhelmingly positive, but about whether it had actually happened. _Seriously? Man, it says nothing good about you that this is how you react to good things._ Just as he was about to go mad second-guessing himself, something caught his eye, and his face split into a grin. There, on the little nightstand next to Pyrrha's bed, was something that put his doubts to rest and confirmed that their date really had happened, and he was being an idiot. It was a stuffed lion, and it was about as big as a Labrador.

His doubts quelled (well, his doubts regarding one very specific topic), Jaune headed in for a shower, and found himself wanting to sing as soon as he was under the water. But what song? He smirked as the answer came to him. "Hey Pyrrha!" He called out. "I know you're awake, so this one's for you!" He cleared his throat and…

" _I thought love was only true in fairy tales  
Meant for someone else but not for me  
Love was out to get me  
That's the way it seemed  
Disappointment haunted all of my dreams_

 _Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer  
Not a trace, of doubt in my mind  
I'm in love, and I'm a believer  
I couldn't leave her if I tried…_"

After following that up with _She's a Rebel_ and what he'd gladly admit was a pretty painfully pathetic portrayal (author's note: Alliteration, whee!) of _Crazy Little Thing Called Love_ , he turned off the water, dried himself off, threw on his clothes and strolled out, grinning like an idiot when he saw Pyrrha's happy little blush. "Are you going to do this every morning?" She asked.

"Only when I'm really happy." Jaune replied, leaning in and planting a kiss on Pyrrha's cheek.

"Daaawww!" Nora's voice rang out. "You're so _cute_!"

"Nora?" Jaune turned to face her, surprised by her early rising. "Any reason why you're up this early?"

"You woke us up when you ran Queen through a wood chipper." Ren answered wearily.

"Hehe… sorry about that." Jaune chuckled. "I know I don't have Freddy's range, but I was having trouble thinking of love songs that I knew all the words to."

"Learn some more songs before you try that again." Ren said bluntly.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad!" Jaune protested.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You sounded like someone lit a cat on fire." That rather effectively put an end to that conversation, bar a little grumbling on Jaune's part, and before long they were all getting ready to head out to breakfast.

"So," Jaune began while waiting for Pyrrha to finish her shower. "Did you two have fun last night?"

"I won a sloth!" Nora exclaimed gleefully.

"I'll take that as a yes." Said Jaune.

"She flipped a guy onto his back for insulting me." Ren stated blankly (yep, completely blank, without any emotion; he certainly didn't look or sound in any way pleased, not one bit).

"Seriously?" Jaune asked.

"He was a great big jerk!" Nora replied ardently. "Nobody calls my Ren a loser! _Nobody_!"

"Fair enough." Jaune conceded.

"What about you and Pyrrha." Ren asked. "Did you two enjoy yourselves?"

"Are you kidding? It was amazing!" He answered excitedly. "We laughed, we saw just about the best view in the city, we kissed… It was the third best night of my life!

"Only third?" Pyrrha asked jokingly, stepping out of the bathroom.

"Two little sisters whose births I managed to stay awake for." Jaune explained. "That sort of thing's kinda hard to beat, at least on a first date."

"Well, I'll just have to try harder on our next date." Pyrrha countered flippantly.

"You, uh, want a second date?" Jaune asked hopefully.

"Of course I do." Pyrrha said firmly.

Suffice to say, Jaune was in a good mood after that, and spent most of breakfast humming merrily to himself. And yet it seemed to have an interesting effect on him in class; he didn't think he'd ever been more focused. Somehow, the simple fact that Pyrrha wanted to keep dating him had left him with a sense of calm unlike anything he'd ever experienced. For the first time, he didn't have any difficulties keeping up with professor Oobleck's lightning-fast lecture; he was actually taking comprehensive notes!

"…and through this we can see that Colonel Teal would argue in favour of idealistic actions, rendering them more palatable to proponents of realpolitik by presenting a cynical line of reasoning to support his position." Oobleck paused to sip his coffee." While a lot of people will point to his opposition to the use of fallout-dispersing Dust munitions on the grounds of _Non comedes in cacas_ as the best example of this," Sip. "It is felt by many that historians overlook his impact on the advancement of the accord between human and faunus through the use of his argument that it was preferable for the faunus to be _de_ _intus urinae_ ," Sip. "As opposed to the prospect of their being _in urinae foras_. Furthermore- miss Valkyrie, would you please remove that hat?"

"Sorry!" Nora chirped, snatching the googly-eyed abomination off her head.

"As I was saying…" The lecture resumed, and soon enough they were headed to their next class; combat. The first half of the lesson passed without incident, and Jaune found that his newfound focus remained unbroken. And then the time came for sparring, and of _course_ Jaune was up first, fighting…

"Weiss?" He sputtered, utterly shocked by the choice.

"You can't just spend the whole year sparring with Team CRDL, mister Arc." Miss Goodwitch replied calmly. "You need to fight a variety of opponents."

"Great." Jaune muttered nervously. But there wasn't much he could do, so into the ring he marched.

"How was your date?" Of all the things for Weiss to say, that was probably the one that Jaune least expected. It just felt too… informal. Weiss, in his admittedly limited experience, wasn't typically so casual.

"Oh, uh, great!" Jaune replied awkwardly. "I mean, we had a lot of fun, and she said today that she wanted a second date, so I think she enjoyed it."

"That's good to hear." Weiss said, lunging forward to attack. To his surprise, he actually managed to block her opening strike flawlessly; he even managed to angle his shield properly. Fun fact about rapiers; that can only effectively be used for thrusting strikes, which means that if they hit an angled surface, they might just slide along the surface, which just so happens to throw the wielder off-balance. This was, in fact, exactly what happened, and while Jaune would be the first to admit he wasn't the best fighter, he knew what to do with an opening like that, and would probably remember for quite some time the look of surprise on Weiss's face as she twisted awkwardly to avoid his strike and very nearly fell to the ground in a heap.

"Huh, I actually blocked it." Jaune muttered to himself disbelievingly… right before Weiss landed a strike to his shoulder. "I deserved that."

"So, I heard you went to a carnival." What the heck was going on? Why was Weiss talking about this in the middle of a sparring match? She gave him an expectant look, right before lunging forward again.

"Oh, uh, yeah!" Jaune replied, completely baffled by her line of conversation, and somehow managing to block without really thinking about it. "Apparently it's the first she's been to since she was a little girl, can you believe that?"

"Well, she was training to be a champion, after all. Lofty goals don't always leave time for you to do the things you want to." There was a hint of sadness to that last part, but Jaune was too busy blocking to try and read into it.

"If you think that's bad, you'll hate this; her media trainer taught her to just let creeps ogle her!" Jaune growled the last few words, at the same time taking a break from just blocking everything to dish out some attacks of his own.

" _What_?" Weiss's tone was a mix of shock and outrage. "Are you serious?"

"Completely!" Jaune spat, launching a particularly vicious slash that Weiss only just blocked. "She's not even allowed to say if someone's making her uncomfortable!"

"That's disgusting!" Weiss cried, backing away from Jaune with every strike she blocked.

"That's showbiz, apparently." Jaune grunted, venting his aggression in the form of a shield bash that clipped Weiss's elbow as she tried to dodge. "Wait, did I just land a hit?"

"You did." Weiss confirmed, right before landing a dozen of her own.

"Okay, I really need to stop letting my guard down."

"You do." Weiss agreed. "So, someone was making Pyrrha uncomfortable?"

"Oh, I dealt with that pretty fast, kind of." Jaune went from confident to sheepish, keeping his shield up all the while.

"Kind of?" Weiss inquired, raining strikes that bounced off of his shield.

"Well I mean, the guy left, but I'm not really sure why." Jaune explained, only just catching Weiss in the hip with a counter attack, only to take a solid hit to the stomach. "He just sort of grinned and walked away."

"Weird." Weiss commented idly, yet another strike bouncing off his shield.

"I know, right?" It was at this point that Jaune came to realise something; it is _stupidly_ difficult for someone with a rapier to get past a shield. "But apart from that, everything went really well." He clipped her shoulder with and overhand swing, took a direct hit in the ribs, and went back to defending. "so, uh, why did you decide to ask me about this stuff _now_?" He asked nervously, taking a hit to the thigh as he did so.

"Just testing a theory." Weiss replied, almost flippantly, before encasing his lower half in ice. "You do better when you're not getting all wrapped up in your own nerves." She calmly walked around him, out of his field of vision.

"Meaning?" Jaune whimpered, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"You think too much." *WHAM!* She sent him flying (despite his lower half being encased in ice) with a strike that was so fast and forceful that Jaune didn't even need to ask to know that it was Glyph-assisted.

"Thanks for the advice." He croaked weakly.

"Miss Schnee wins." Miss Goodwitch stated primly.

"You did a lot better than I expected." Weiss offered a hand, which Jaune took to help drag himself to his feet. "Pyrrha's lessons have really made a difference.

"The next fight will be between miss Valkyrie and miss Belladonna." Goodwitch looked around the room. "Miss Valkyrie, remove that _ridiculous_ hat at once."

Nora was feeling a little out of sorts after combat practice, due to the fact that her match with Blake had ended in a draw. She wouldn't have minded losing, but she couldn't stand a draw; if nobody won, it just didn't feel like the fight had a proper ending. It was weird, but it was how she was. "Is the fight still bothering you?" Ren asked, because knowing when she was upset was just how he was. She nodded, pouting all the while. "Challenger her to an arm-wrestling match or something at lunch." He offered. "If she accepts, you get to settle things, and if she doesn't, you win." And just like that, it was solved. Simple, straightforward and logical; exactly the sort of solution she'd come to expect from Ren.

"Great idea!" She exclaimed happily, her previous malaise forgotten. "Thanks!" She chirped, leaning over and giving him a little kiss on the cheek. Of course, since they'd been heading from combat practice to lunch, and they'd been most of the way to the cafeteria when this particular conversation had started, this happened to coincide with them walking through the door, and into full view of basically the entire school. Suffice to say, there were a couple of wolf whistles. And some jokes at their expense. And one or two people who thought they were cute.

"Look at you two, making out in public." Yang's teasing tone was matched only by her mocking grin.

"We weren't making out." Ren pointed out quietly. "She kissed me on the cheek."

"Yeah, well by tomorrow everybody's gonna be saying you were making out." Yang replied firmly.

"Really?" Ren asked in the voice that Nora knew meant he was planning something, but that she suspected nobody else in Beacon would be able to identify as such.

"Really." Yang confirmed. "Welcome to the rumour mill."

"Well, if that's the case…" With that, he turned around and pulled Nora into a searing kiss. She'd known he was planning to do something, but she hadn't been entirely ready for this. That being said, she certainly wasn't complaining; she'd been waiting years for a relationship with Ren, and she meant to enjoy every minute of it. Which was why, after a few seconds, she slid her hand down his back and onto his backside, and gave it a little squeeze. She heard his breath hitch, the tiniest little acknowledgement of surprise, and smiled into the kiss. And that's when Ren reminded her that he could deliver surprises of his own, his tongue darting forward and running along her lips. After a moment, the shock wore off, and she was just beginning to debate whether or not to part her lips and respond in kind when he broke away.

"Whoah, get a load of you two!" Yang said, sounding legitimately impressed. "Why'd you go and do that in front of everyone?"

"Why not?" Ren replied coolly. "You said that by tomorrow they'd all think we made out in public, so there was nothing to lose."

Yang leaned in close to Nora. "Hey, Nora." She whispered. "If there's something you want to do with Ren, you let me know, okay?" She winked conspiratorially. "I'll spread a rumour, and he'll do it because there's 'nothing to lose', apparently."

"I heard that." Ren said bluntly. "And she just needs to ask me." With that, they grabbed their luches and headed to their tables. After a few minutes of eating and conversation, Nora recalled the issue that had been bugging her earlier (she probably would have remembered it sooner, but her thoughts were _elsewhere_ ).

"Hey Blake, wanna arm wrestle?" She asked, leaning forward and placing her elbow on the table.

Blake stared at her for a moment. "…Why?"

"Because of or fight!" Nora answered, wondering, not for the first time, why nobody else ever seemed to get it. "Nobody won!"

"Your point being?" Blake asked, one eyebrow cocked.

"It doesn't count!" Nora wailed. "If nobody won, it didn't really end!"

"Fine, we can settle it now." Blake conceded. "But not by arm wrestling. I already know you're stronger than me, so there'd be no point."

"Thumb war?" Nora suggested.

"Rock paper scissors." Blake replied. Blake won, they went back to lunch, lunch ended, they headed to their next class.

"Excuse me miss Valkyrie, but I'm afraid there's a rather important issue that needs addressing." Professor Port's tone was deadly serious.

"What's that?"

"It's my understanding that you've come into possession of a rather ostentatious hat." The edges of his moustache twitched up, the only visible sign that he was smiling. "And I feel I have no choice but to _demand_ you let me see it."

Nora beamed back at him; she'd always suspected that Professor Port was a lot like her. "Okay!" She crowed, pulling the item in question from her bag and donning it proudly.

"Magnificent!" The portly teacher exclaimed. "Even better than I'd dared to hope for!" Suffice to say she was allowed to keep the hat for the remainder of the lesson. At the end of the day, Team RWBY approached her and the rest of her team.

"So, uh… we'll be going off to train with Team DTNT tomorrow, and they're kind of…" Ruby trailed off.

"Scary beyond all reason." Weiss interjected bluntly. "We were hoping you'd be able to help us stay on their good side."

"Be nice to Noire!" Nora advised. "Things get scary if you don't!"

"That's… actually pretty good advice." Jaune agreed. "If you make Noire feel like a freak, then you're _not_ gonna like what happens next."

"Anything else?" Asked Yang.

"Nah, that should be enough to get you through training alive." Jaune grinned in a way that _most_ people would see as innocent, but Nora wasn't most people, and she could see the little spark of mischief. "You'll be fine." As soon as Team RWBY were out of earshot, they started laughing, and didn't stop for quite some time.

Overall, Pyrrha reflected, it had been a good day thus far. Classes had gone well, and more importantly, there didn't seem to be any feelings of awkwardness between her and Jaune. That was honestly pretty surprising, honestly. She'd expected that there's be some sort of… tension between them, something to make them a little uncomfortable, but none had arisen. Instead, they'd spent the day completely at ease in each other's company. _Maybe things just stop being awkward after you start dating?_ She checked the clock. "It's time to train." She stated plainly, walking out the door with Jaune in tow.

 _Okay, maybe not. Maybe things stay awkward for a while._ "So, uh… I mean, well, yeah…" Jaune trailed off. "Things got kind of uncomfortable all of a sudden."

"Very uncomfortable." She agreed. For a moment, they returned to silence. Extremely awkward silence.

"Kind of weird, isn't it?" He asked, still sounding hugely uncomfortable. "It just kinda came out of nowhere, huh?"

"A bolt from the blue." Pyrrha muttered, concentrating on trying to work out why they were so on edge all of a sudden. As best as she could guess, the problem was that they were alone. The rest of the day, there'd always been other people nearby, and it took the edge off. But now, it was just the two of them… on their own… "So that's what it is."

"Excuse me?" Jaune asked.

"I know why we're both so nervous." Pyrrha said, turning to face Jaune and taking a step toward him.

"You have?" Jaune asked, sounding relieved.

"We're both waiting for this to happen." And with that, she leaned in and kissed him, softly, before drawing back. "Better?" Jaune nodded mutely. "Then let's get started." The tension between them dispelled, they got to work. She was pleasantly surprised by Jaune's performance (Yang would have had fun with _that_ one); he powered through his drills without any difficulty, and when it came time to spar, he did better than expected. He wasn't falling for her feints, his guard never dropped, and he was taking a lot more opportunities to counter attack. "You're really improving a lot." She commented, blocking an overhead strike and responding with a slash across his chest.

"Thanks!" Jaune panted, bringing his shield up to deflect her follow-up attack, and almost moving fast enough to manage it.

"But you're still not putting enough force into your attacks." She chastised, effortlessly deflecting a strike to her left side. "You need to stop being so gentle; I'm not made of glass." _Elsewhere, Yang suddenly felt like she was missing out on an incredible opportunity._

"Sorry." Jaune grinned sheepishly, before launching a series of more powerful strikes. "How was that?" Jaune asked, his smile taking on a more mischievous aspect. "Hard enough?" _Dear lord, the innuendos just won't stop!_

"Much better." Pyrrha smiled, as sweetly as she could right before sweeping Jaune's legs out from under him and placing one foot on his chest. "But you left yourself open." After a moment, she helped him up. "Again, and this time keep your guard up." They sparred some more, but eventually Jaune's Aura began to run dry, and they called it a night. Pyrrha was just about to head downstairs when Jaune laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Could we stay up here for a while?" He asked hesitantly.

"Jaune," Pyrrha sighed. "You know we can't keep training with your Aura so low, it's too dangerous."

"That's not what I meant." Jaune replied. "I just thought we could stay up here and talk a while." He blushed. "Maybe look at the stars."

"That sounds nice." Pyrrha smiled, sitting down next to him. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm, uh, not sure." Jaune admitted sheepishly. "I didn't really plan that far ahead."

"And you were meant to be our tactician." Pyrrha chuckled.

"Yeah, so much for that." Jaune joked. "Seriously though, I just want to get to know you better." His voice grew earnest and sincere. "I feel like we don't really know that much about each other, you know?"

"Well, what would you like to know about me?"

"A lot." Jaune replied, his tone serious. "How about you?"

Pyrrha gave it some thought; what did she really know about Jaune? That he was better than he was willing to believe, that he had seven sisters, that he was terribly sentimental. She knew a lot about who he was, but not about where he came from. "There's a lot I'd like to know about you, too."

"Okay, so… where do we start?" Jaune asked, sounding completely lost.

"Well, what was it like growing up in your family?" Pyrrha asked, grabbing onto the first idea to pop into her head.

"It was… it was something." Jaune answered, a strange smile on his face. "Of course, with so many sisters I was basically raised by girls."

"That explains so much." Pyrrha murmured.

"I get that a lot." He replied. "But, yeah, it was nice. Privacy was kind of hard to come by but, well, we looked out for each other." He grinned hugely. "The local bullies learned to leave us alone before long."

"So I gathered." Pyrrha laughed. "Your mother said something about someone who picked on you?" She enquired.

"We don't talk about that." Jaune muttered, looking slightly distressed. "My sisters went _way_ too far back then." He shuddered. "I didn't know you could even _do_ that with ginger beer." He shook his head. "But I'm getting sidetracked; what about you? How was it growing up in your family?"

"It was…" She hesitated for a moment. "Hard to describe. My parents loved me, but they had high expectations." She stared up at the stars. "They said I was meant for great things."

"I gotta say, they pretty much nailed that one." Jaune joked.

"That's sweet." Pyrrha replied, before continuing. "They were worried that I'd waste my potential, so I didn't get a lot of time to relax."

"Sounds rough."

"They meant well." Pyrrha said half-heartedly. "But to be honest, they had me training so much, I never had any really good friends until I met you."

"Oh wow, that's a _lot_ more responsibility than I'm comfortable with." Jaune said, sounding like he was only half-joking.

"Well, you've done a great job so far." Pyrrha giggled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Is there anything you miss?" Pyrrha had to give this question some thought. Honestly, she preferred Beacon to her home; she could finally relax and have fun, she could make friends. "Well, it's kinf of hard to explain, but I'm not really used to living in a big city like Vale."

"Me neither." Jaune commented.

"Of course I'm used to crowds, but… only at arenas, or press conferences, or scheduled events." She shrugged. "I guess I'm just not quite used to there being so many people in one place."

"I won't lie, I'm kind of the same." Jaune sighed. "I'm used to knowing everyone in town, and now here I am in Vale." He looked up at the sky. "But mostly, I miss the stars."

"The stars?" Pyrrha asked quietly.

"Back home you can see so many of them, it's kinda crazy." He chuckled. "We used to just sit outside on summer nights and look at the stars, and no matter how many times we did, it never got boring." He frowned, very slightly, but enough for Pyrrha to notice. "But it's different here. There's too many lights, so you can't really see that many stars."

Pyrrha gave it some thought, and suddenly, she felt homesick for the first time in months. "Now that you say it, I think I feel the same." She held out her hand and, after a moment, Jaune took it, their fingers intertwining.

"Hey, we've got plenty of time to see the stars, you know?" He gave out a sigh of contentment. "We'll be looking at the stars from all over the world once we're Hunters." He gave her hand a squeeze. "These stars are enough for now." And they were.

The next day went well; Jaune singing cheesy upbeat party-pop in the shower, Ren and Nora getting affectionate when they thought nobody was looking, and classes that didn't really present much of a challenge. Of course, Team RWBY's absence made things a little dull, but besides that, it just seemed to be a good one. And then Jaune got the call… "Hey big sis, I didn't expect a call from you."

"Well, I heard something interesting, and I just had to check up on you." Pyrrha didn't know why, but there was something about the voice coming from Jaune's scroll that she found unnerving.

"Figures!" Jaune said jokingly. "You never could mind your own business."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for my baby brother!" Jaune's older sister teased.

"So what's got you so interested in my life?" Jaune asked.

"A little bird with a _killer body_ had some news for me."

"A swear, Amy; you've always been like this! Just tell me already!" Jaune began to sound exasperated.

"Well first of all, she said you survived training with her team, so congratulations on that one." Amelia began (Pyrrha was glad to know who it was, and recalled from previous conversations with Jaune that Amelia was the oldest of his siblings).

"Congratulations to you big sis!" Jaune replied. "When are you gonna introduce mom and dad to Talia?"

"When you introduce them to your new beau." Amelia's voice replied triumphantly. "Apparently Talia heard about it from the kids they're training, and she just _had_ to let me know." There was a momentary silence. "So?"

"So what?" Jaune asked.

"So are you gonna let me get a look at her or not? I know she's in the room with you, your eyes keep darting to the side." Pyrrha's pulse began to race; she wasn't sure where the following conversation was going to go, and she didn't want to make a bad impression. Nevertheless, she reluctantly walked over to Jaune and turned to face the scroll. Amelia Arc was very intimidating. Pyrrha couldn't really guess at her height, given that the scroll only provided her a view of her head and shoulders, but she suspected that Amelia was probably quite tall. She was _definitely_ broad-shouldered, even accounting for the half-plate she was wearing, with what looked like an axe handle protruding from behind her right shoulder. She had a long, curving scar or her left cheek, and a look of supreme confidence. So yeah, she was intimidating. She was also beautiful; sparkling blue eyes, excellent bone structure, long blonde hair in a braid, and a look of supreme confidence. All of which served to make her _more_ intimidating. "Red hair." She noted. "Figures."

"Hello." Pyrrha said nervously. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Amelia replied. "Has anyone ever told you that you look exactly like Pyrrha Nikos? It's actually kind of spooky." There was a moment of silence, as a look of realisation spread across Amelia's face. "You're Pyrrha Nikos."

"I am." Pyrrha confirmed.

"My baby brother's dating Pyrrha Nikos." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. "HOW?!"

"As if I know." Jaune said jokingly.

"He was sweet." Pyrrha explained shyly. "He asked me to be on his team before he knew who I was. He made me laugh, he did his best." She felt like this somehow wasn't enough. "He once wore a dress in front of the entire school to cheer me up."

"He _what_?" Amelia laughed.

"I really didn't have the legs for it." Jaune added.

"Please, no more!" Amelia gasped in between fits of laughter.

"It was the nicest thing anybody ever did for me." Pyrrha offered shyly.

"Aawww! You two are just the cutest!" Amelia was grinning hugely. "That settles it. Jaune; give us a few minutes, okay? I wanna talk to Pyrrha one-on-one."

"Seriously?" Jaune sounded doubtful. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"I know where mom keeps the baby photos." Amelia said, looking smug. "I could go get rid of, say, the five most embarrassing pictures of you, or I could show them to Pyrrha. Your choice."

"I think I'll just go take a little walk." Jaune said, making his way to the door.

"Well then," Suddenly, Amelia's expression had changed. She seemed, well, a little more focused, more businesslike. "Let's get to business. You've been helping Jaune a lot haven't you?"

"I've given him some lessons." Pyrrha answered, trying to downplay her involvement in Jaune's development.

"Lessons every night, I'd guess." Amelia said plainly. " _And_ you know his little secret."

"He told me about the forged transcripts, yes." Pyrrha affirmed.

"And you didn't rat him out?" She raised one eyebrow. "Why?"

"He really wanted to be a Hunter, and I didn't want to take that from him." Pyrrha answered, deciding that nothing but the truth was, in this case, preferable to the whole truth.

"And the rest?" So much for that; Amelia saw right through her.

"I didn't want him to leave." Pyrrha admitted. "I really liked him."

"So I gathered." The blonde Huntress noted drily. "Look, I'll be blunt; I've been sizing you up."

"I know." Pyrrha replied, entirely honestly; she'd had so many people trying to take her measure that she could spot the signs a mile off.

"And so far, I like what I'm seeing; you really care about little Jauney, that much is obvious." Her expression had softened slightly, and her tone was a shade gentler. "Honestly, I kind of wish he'd met you earlier." She smiled. "Cards on the table; I want it to work between you two. Ten years from now, I want you to be that one sickeningly sweet couple that's been together since the academy and whose friends all knew they'd be getting married long before they announced it."

"That's…" Pyrrha trailed off, taken aback by Amelia's sincerity. "Thank you, it means a lot to hear you say that."

"But if it doesn't work out, well…" And just like that, she was back to being intimidating. "I guess that depends. If it's just one of those things that happens then you have nothing to worry about. End it on good terms and you'll never hear from me again. But," She casually unslung her axe with one hand while picking up a glass bottle with the other. "If you hurt him…" She used her axe's back-spike to take the cap off of the bottle before putting it back in place. "Don't hurt him, okay?" With that, she took a swig from the bottle in her hand, allowing Pyrrha to get a good look at the label.

"I won't hurt him." Pyrrha promised nervously. Amelia was holding a bottle of ginger beer, which put her in mind of something Jaune had said on the night before.

"Okay then!" Amelia said brightly, hanging up. After spending a few seconds just staring at the wall before walking out the door, where Jaune was waiting.

"You guys done talking?" Jaune asked casually. Pyrrha nodded. "She threatened you, didn't she?" Jaune sighed. Pyrhha nodded again. He pulled her into a hug. "Sorry about that." He murmured. "I'll talk to her about it, okay?" With that, he gave her a smile and planted a kiss on her cheek, leaving Pyrrha aware of two facts. One; that Jaune's sister was _terrifying_ , and two; that Jaune himself was an excellent source of comfort. _Worth it._

Author's Notes: I'm… not exactly sure where parts of this chapter came from. I mean, I'd planned to have Jaune singing _I'm a Believer_ , and I knew I'd include his big sister being scary, but… where the heck did the rest of this chapter come from? Why did Weiss and Jaune have a conversation, and why did it happen while they were sparring? When did the joke with Nora's hat from the carnival pop into my head? And what about the scene with Jaune and Pyrrha talking on the roof? And looking at the stars? Oh well, I may not know exactly where those ideas came from, but I'm happy with how they turned out. Besides that… just because I'm not the best at character descriptions and a simple point of reference is easier, imagine Amelia Arc as a sort of Ronda Rousey type. And I'll be interested to see if anyone can tell me what those little bits of Latin from Oobleck's lecture actually mean. I guess that's basically it for now, reviews are appreciated, and if you illustrate a scene from this fic, please let me know so that I can give you a shout-out, okay?


	18. Chapter 18: Insecurities

Ren hated waking up. Not to say he had any issues with being awake, nor with sleep, it was simply that the transition from asleep to awake was something he found unpleasant. And drawn-out; he was most definitely not a morning person. For whatever reason, his senses always seemed a little more sensitive when he first woke up; every sound louder than he'd like, the lights just a little too bright. And he especially hated waking up earlier than usual, as he had today for no reason he could discern. Nevertheless, he couldn't just lie in bed all day, so he forced himself out and onto his feet, to face the dreaded early morning. As he attempted to work out the stiffness in his neck (another reason why he wasn't fond of waking up), he noticed Nora, sound asleep and curled up with that ridiculous plush sloth, looking utterly contented. Ren smiled to himself, suddenly feeling much better.

He rarely saw Nora asleep, but he always enjoyed it when it happened. There she was, safe, happy and completely unhurt. Her utterly untroubled expression told him that no nightmares disturbed her slumber. The whole thing was only a little less calming than an hour of meditation, or, depending on his mood, a little more. And honestly, with Nora cuddling up to that silly carnival toy, he was definitely considering classifying this one as being 'more'. Of course, when she began to nuzzle it, he found that he had to remind himself that he was a mature, rational young man, and mature, rational young men didn't get jealous of stuffed animals. Not even of stuffed animals that their girlfriends seemed to be kissing on the back of the neck in their sleep.

"Mrrr…" Nora murmured, still sound asleep. "Ren…" Of course Ren grinned at that; how could he not?

"What am I going to do with you?" He whispered, smiling indulgently. After watching her for a moment more, he walked forward and adjusted her sheets, moving them so they covered her up to the neck, just how she liked. Satisfied that he'd tucked her in properly, he leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, causing her to smile the tiniest bit wider in her sleep.

"You know," Jaune's voice rang out behind Ren, alerting him to the fact that he was awake. "I'll never get why everyone keeps insisting that me and Pyrrha are the cute couple in this team when you two are always doing stuff like this."

"Well, you two _are_ the power couple around Beacon." Ren replied. "People barely notice Nora and I with you around."

"Power couple?!" Jaune laughed disbelievingly. "When I'm half of it?"

"Well, maybe Pyrrha just has power for two." Ren countered.

"You might have a point there." Jaune chuckled. "Me in a power couple, who saw that coming?"

"You're the one who went and fell for a celebrity." Ren joked. "This is nobody's fault but yours."

"Worth it." Jaune replied, grinning like an idiot.

"Thank you for stating the obvious." Ren retorted sarcastically. "I'm so glad you're here to tell us what we already know."

"Like how you and Nora are gonna be forever?" Jaune asked jokingly, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes, like that." Ren answered, utterly unfazed.

"Seriously though," And Jaune's expression was indeed quite serious. "We're both really lucky."

"That we are." Ren agreed.

"Which is why I don't plan on letting you screw up." He grinned. "I've got your back, for what it's worth."

"Well, for what it's worth," Ren began. "I've got yours, okay?"

"Does this mean I get to be your best man when you marry Nora?" Jaune's tone was joking, but Ren suspected that he could hear a hint of sincerity as well.

"Only if I'm your best man when you marry Pyrrha." Ren shot back.

"It's a deal!" Jaune laughed, before holding one hand out. "Shake on it."

Ren took his friend's hand, smiling. "By the way, you should probably know that Pyrrha woke up around the time I called you a power couple."

Jaune turned around to see that Ren was telling the truth before turning back and continuing their conversation. "And you should probably know that Nora woke up when I said you two are forever."

"Touché." Ren muttered as Nora pulled him into an enthusiastic hug. He doubted anybody but Nora knew this, but he actually _loved_ her hugs. For someone as used to calm and restraint and stifling, strangling tranquillity, to be faced with such unbridled emotion was refreshing. He honestly suspected that was one of the things that drew him to Nora; she was so free, so unfettered. A creature of emotion, pure and undiluted. And he… wasn't. How could she be in love with him? It just didn't make any sense: he was dull, he was stiff and quiet. It didn't add up; she was everything he wasn't, so how long could it possibly be before she got bored with him? In the end, he supposed that all he could really do was enjoy it while he could. And then and there, with Nora hugging him with everything she had, enjoying it was very easy indeed.

Suddenly, Nora pulled back, her hands clamped on Ren's shoulders. "Ren, this is important." She stared him dead in the eyes.

"What is it?" Ren asked, not entirely sure whether or not this would be an instance where Nora's idea of important aligned with his own.

"I hate marzipan." She stated gravely.

"Okay," Ren answered calmly, waiting for the point when Nora would start making sense. "Which is important because?"

"Because wedding cakes have marzipan in them!" Nora wailed, beginning to flail her arms. "So we can't have one!"

"…Oh." Ren replied lamely. _If she's talking about something like that, it must mean she's thinking long-term about this…_ He decided that their definitions of important were in fact aligned in this case. "Well, I'm sure we can think of something else." He assured her, pulling her in for another hug.

It occurred to Jaune, not for the first time, that Ren and Nora were, unbeknownst to the rest of Beacon, an unbelievably cute couple. Not the manliest of thoughts, but that was okay because Jaune wasn't really the manliest of guys, even with the fruits of Pyrrha's training. Of course, he liked to think that he and Pyrrha were pretty cute together, too. Of course, their relationships had very different dynamics; Nora and Ren had been friends for years, so they were a lot more comfortable with each other than he and Pyrrha were. He felt like he was in a slower relationship; something a little more cautious, between two people who, honestly, didn't really know what they were doing, and one of whom lived in a state of almost constant certainty that he'd ruin everything.

 _And we're back to this…_ Jaune couldn't help it; she was so beautiful, so smart, so graceful, so strong and capable. And he was just so… well, so _him_. There wasn't really any point in trying to sugar-coat it; he wasn't good enough for someone like Pyrrha. He didn't care how many people tried to reassure him, it was just a simple fact. She was strong, he was weak. She was beautiful, and he was average. In every single metric, he fell short of her. So why did she like him? It just didn't make any sense; everything he knew about the world told him that tall, blonde and scraggly didn't land a girl like Pyrrha. _Let's be real here; it's only a matter of time before she realises she's making a mistake. Just be ready to step aside when she meets someone who's actually good enough, because she's probably won't have the heart to end it herself._ He took a good look at Pyrrha; it'd be hard to give her up, that was for sure.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune spoke hesitantly.

"Yes?" Pyrrha asked, a slightly curious smile on her face.

"I'm really glad we're together." He said shyly.

Pyrrha smiled warmly and leaned in for a quick kiss. "I am too."

Feeling a little better, Jaune headed in to shower. As the hot water began to pour down, a song crept into his head.

" _Dead leaves and the dirty ground  
When I know you're not around  
Shiny tops and soda pops  
When I hear your lips make a sound  
When I hear your lips make a sound…"_

It seemed appropriate. Classes went… less than stellar. Where yesterday he'd been able to focus more effectively than usual, today he was just completely out of it. His mind wandered constantly, always heading back to the same thing; why did Pyrrha like him? Oobleck's words seemed to race out even faster than normal, Port's rambling stories even more tedious. And as for combat training, well…

"Really takes you back, huh?" Cardin smirked, forcing Jaune back with a wide sweeping strike. "Just like old times, right, Jauney boy?"

"It's definitely familiar." Jaune muttered, only just raising his shield in time to sort-of-but-not-really deflect an overhand blow.

"Well, not that I'm not happy to be kicking your butt, but what gives?" Cardin asked nonchalantly, knocking Jaune on his back with a one-handed upward swing.

"No, we're not doing this!" Jaune exclaimed, quickly recovering and knocking Cardin back with a shield rush. "You're literally the last person I'd ever want to talk to abut this!" He pushed the attack, clipping Cardin's shoulder with a diagonal slash.

"You mean it's about Pyrrha, right?" Thankfully, Cardin was merciful enough to keep his voice down.

"Wait, how did you-" Jaune was interrupted when Cardin punched him in the face.

"You're kind of obvious, Jauney boy." Cardin sneered, pressing the attack. "Now spill it, otherwise I'll ask you again, only loud enough for Pyrrha to hear."

"You… you're a bad person." Jaune said, glaring at Cardin as he slashed at his legs.

"Well someone has to be around here." Cardin joked, narrowly missing Jaune with a brutal swing.

"Well, I guess I just feel like she's… too good, y'know?" Jaune honestly couldn't believe he was having this conversation with Cardin.

"Feeling inadequate?" Cardin asked, hitting him in the face with a pommel strike.

"Can you blame me?" Jaune retorted, jabbing Cardin in the hip. "I mean, she's smart," He chopped at Cardin's leg. "Strong," He flicked his sword up, hitting Cardin in the chin. " _Beautiful_ ," Which left him open to a shield bash. "And she likes me?" He swung, missed, and stumbled forward, taking a hit to the back for his troubles. "It just doesn't make sense." He got back to his feet.

"Yeah, well she disagrees, so shut up." With that, Cardin knocked Jaune to the ground with a thrust of his mace. Not a very frequently used technique, and pretty much the worst possible way to inflict actual damage, but useful for quickly knocking someone off-balance. "By the way, this is gonna hurt, Jauney boy." With that, he wound up for a big hit, taking a step back, before moving in to swing.

"Eep!" Jaune squeaked, rolling to the side at the last minute, the heavy mace head crashing down next to his face and sending out a wave of fire in front of it. "No, _this_ one's gonna hurt!" Jaune yelled, scything Cardin's legs out from under him with a savage ankle-high slash. By the time Cardin hit the ground, Jaune was already starting to get up.

"Yeah," Cardin groaned, slowly rising to his hands and knees. "That hurt." And that's when Jaune kicked him in the face. "Man, when'd you start playing dirty?" Cardin joked, rising again to his hands and knees, but clearly on guard this time.

"Like you don't know." Jaune replied, offering him a hand up.

"Around the time I stopped being the biggest jerk in Remnant, right?" He chuckled, taking Jaune's proffered hand after a moment's hesitation and pulling himself up.

"So now you're just the biggest jerk in…?" Jaune trailed off, falling back into a combat stance.

"I dunno, Beacon?" Cardin smirked, falling into a stance of his own. With that, they resumed their fight, battering at each other for a while before ending up where all their fights seemed to end up; with their weapons pushing against each other, both trying to overpower their opponent. "This is the part where you lose, Jauney boy."

"Over my dead body." Jaune spat back, while a part of him reflected on how their exchange mirrored one from a sparring match months ago, meaning that…

"If you say so." Cardin grinned, delivering a heavy kick… which completely failed to connect, as Jaune twisted his body out of the way before delivering a kick of his own.

"Not this time." Jaune stated bluntly, trying not to take _too_ much pleasure in Cardin's shocked and winded expression. "I've got a really good memory for fights, Cardin. You can't beat me with the same old tricks." And with that, Jaune took one final swing at Cardin, connecting with his arm and depleting the last of his Aura. "Thanks for the pep talk, by the way." Jaune whispered. "Man, it feels really weird saying that to you."

"Feels weird hearing it." Cardin replied, apparently unfazed by his defeat.

"Still, good fight." Jaune offered a hand.

"You're only saying that because you won." Cardin joked, taking Jaune's hand and, if Jaune was any judge, doing his level best to crush it. With that, they left the arena and waited for the next fight, between Pyrrha and a ram-horned Faunus boy named Isaac. Suffice to say, she won without any real difficulty.

"Wow…" Jaune sighed. And just like that, he was plunged back into self-doubting. She was just so very strong, and he was so weak… he just couldn't make it fit together in his head. _Face it; you might be dragging her down._ "Then I guess I'll just have to train harder," Jaune muttered to himself. "Because I'm _not_ giving up without a fight."

"Sorry, did you say something?" Ren asked politely.

"Just making myself a little promise." Jaune replied, unable to tear his eyes away from Pyrrha.

 _Why is he staring like that?_ You might think that, what with being in the spotlight for so long, Pyrra would have gotten good at judging the general emotional state of people staring at her. You'd be wrong. _Is he impressed, excited… afraid?_ She was used to having thousands of strangers staring at her, and honestly, she'd never seen the point in working out exactly what motivated strangers to watch her fight. She suspected that it was best to just chalk it up to everybody being impressed rather than to go into the details of what _some_ people got out of watching a teenage girl in peak physical condition. It just seemed better for her mental health, which, incidentally, was the same logic that informed her decision to never look herself up online. Of course, that decision had, unfortunately, now left her unable to perfectly decipher Jaune's expression. Of course, it would help if Jaune's expression had been a little easier to read. Or consistent; one moment his mouth was hanging wide open and the next he'd clenched his jaw and his eyes had gone from being open just about as wide as they could open to slightly narrower than usual. There were, well, a few things that could mean. She needed a little more information before she could decipher it.

 _Oh well, no big deal. Just keep it simple and talk to him._ A sensible approach… that failed miserably, because just as a break in conversation presented itself as the least awkward time to bring it up, a call came in on her scroll. "Hello Yang." Pyrrha greeted the blonde huntress, allowing a trace of exasperation to creep into her otherwise polite tone.

"Shh!" Yang hissed. "Keep it down!" Now that Pyrrha looked, she could see that Yang appeared to be crouched in some sort of undergrowth. "Get the rest of your team watching this, okay?"

"Why?" Pyrrha felt she was entitled to be suspicious, all things considered.

"Trust me," Blake said quietly, ducking into view. "You'll want to see this."

"Blake?" Pyrrha sputtered. "What's going on?"

"Please try to be quiet." Blake requested politely. "I'd rather not get caught."

"Get caught doing what?" Pyrrha asked, acquiescing to Blake's request and lowering her voice.

"Just get them watching." Blake replied bluntly. At this, Pyrrha shrugged and motioned for her friends to come take a look.

"Okay, what are we looking at?" Jaune asked, leaning in next to Pyrrha.

"See for yourself." Yang smirked before turning her scroll to show them what all the fuss was about.

"Is that… Noire?" Pyrrha asked incredulously.

"Yep." Yang confirmed smugly.

"And Tivra?" Jaune asked, sounding equally surprised.

"Indeed it is." Blake stated, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

"And they're…" Ren trailed off, apparently unable to think of an appropriate word.

"Kissing?" Blake offered.

"Making out." Yang suggested.

"Face-battling!" Nora exclaimed, and Pyrrha had to admit; it certainly fit the activity unfolding on the scroll.

"That'll do." Ren replied.

"They're certainly being quite forceful." Blake noted.

" _Noire's_ being forceful." Jaune corrected. "Tivra looks like he's just trying to keep up."

"Told ya you'd wanna see it." Yang gloated, just a little louder than was wise.

"Um, Yang?" Pyrrha began. "You probably should have said that a little quieter."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked, sounding a little unnerved. Right before her surroundings began to explode, courtesy of two hunters who looked to be slightly miffed to have their privacy violated. "Gotta go, bye!" And with that frantic farewell, the call ended.

"Well, that was certainly unexpected." Ren commented dully.

"Ren." Nora's tone was unusually serious.

"Yes Nora?" Ren said, sounding a shade resigned, but in a good way, if that made sense.

"I challenge you to a face battle!" She exclaimed, grabbing his arm and dragging him away. "To the dorm!"

"Of course." Ren muttered, a tiny smile on his face. "You guys should probably stay away from our dorm for a while." And with that, he seemed to go limp, allowing Nora to spirit him away with ease.

"Well, what do we do now?" Pyrrha asked, turning to face Jaune… only to be met with empty space. "Jaune?" She looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. _So, taking inventory: your teammates have temporarily annexed the dorm, your boyfriend's disappeared, and the person you'd normally talk to in a situation like this is currently on a training mission. Perfect._ Given the situation, Pyrrha decided that it would probably be best to just go hit the gym to kill some time. To her mild surprise, however, she wasn't the only one there.

"Oh, hello Pyrrha." Velvet greeted her, a shade breathlessly, from a treadmill.

"Hellos Velvet," Pyrrha replied. "Yatsuhashi." The man lying on a weight bench gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

"You don't usually come here round this time of day." Velvet commented politey.

"I prefer to exercise in the morning." Pyrrha replied, climbing into a nautilus machine and adjusting the weight.

"Felt like breaking the routine?" Velvet offered.

"Not exactly." Pyrrha muttered, beginning her exercises.

"Would you like to talk about it?" The rabbit-eared girl inquired.

"Maybe later." Pyrrha said, focused on operating the machine.

"Okay then, whenever you're ready." Velvet said patiently. After a few minutes of exercising in silence, Pyrrha couldn't help it.

"Am I intimidating?" She asked, not bothering with any sort of lead-in.

"That's a difficult question." Velvet responded after a moment.

"Intimidation is subjective." Yatsuhashi added, still lifting his weights.

"I don't find you intimidating because we're on the same side." Velvet clarified, leaving, at least to Pyrrha's ears, a tiny unspoken 'I could take you'.

"Well, do you think Jaune finds me intimidating?" Pyrrha blurted out, surprised by her own directness.

"I can't imagine there's much that doesn't intimidate that kid." Yatsuhashi commented bluntly without missing a beat.

"Yastuhashi!" Velvet chided. "Be nice." She turned back to Pyrrha. "Why do you think he's intimidated, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain." Pyrrha began.

"It always is." Velvet said, nodding understandingly.

"He was looking at me in an odd way after my sparring match, and then he just disappeared." She explained, already feeling like it wasn't enough information.

"That's not a lot to go on." Velvet noted.

"It's just that Jaune can be a little insecure-" She began.

"Unsurprising." The enormous swordsman commented.

"Stop that." Velvet rebuked her teammate.

"And I can't help but worry that the difference in our ability bothers him." Pyrrha finished. "I know that he still has some doubts about leading our team, so I just wonder if my being so strong is making him uncomfortable."

"Well, that's certainly tricky." Velvet said, looking thoughtful. "But I think I have some advice that might help you."

"I'd listen if I were you," Yastuhashi advised. "Velvet gives good advice."

"The most important thing is to be yourself." Velvet started, and Pyrrha could tell by her face that she knew how clichéd that sounded. "Remember, you know he's attracted to you. Suddenly putting on an act based on a hunch is a risk you don't want to take. Besides," Velvet gave Pyrrha a sharp look. "If you had to hide who you were to keep him, would you really want to?"

"No," Pyrrha shuddered at the thought. "I don't think I would." After all, she'd first been drawn to Jaune because he'd taken her at face value, and never let her celebrity status change how he treated her.

"Honestly, you just need to talk to him." Velvet explained. "Find a good time to bring it up and ask him. If something's wrong, you two need to work it out together."

"Yatsuhashi was right." Pyrrha said, a tiny smile forming. "You give good advice."

Nora felt really, really good about her life. Her face-battle with Ren (definitely the most accurate description of what they'd been doing) had ended in a blissful draw, and they'd fallen back on the old standby of lying around cuddling, making light conversation. Not really conversation about anything in particular, more just a way to pass the time in each other's company, although the subject of cakes did seem to be the dominant one at that moment. "How about a croquembouche?" Ren suggested, idly stroking the back of her head.

"A croakem-what?" Nora asked, lifting her head briefly from its rightful place (lain on Ren's chest).

"A croquembouche. It's a cake made of profiteroles." Ren explained, causing Nora's mouth to water.

"How do you know that?" Nora asked, wiping the drool away from the corner of her mouth. "I'm the one with the sweet tooth, so how come you know so many more cakes than me?"

"I used to spend a lot of time in the bakery back home, before…" He trailed off, prompting Nora to worry. The past was a dangerous place for both of them, so Nora made a point not to let Ren go there alone.

"Before home went away." Nora murmured, taking hold of one of Ren's hands and gently squeezing. "I always liked the baker best before I met you."

"Oh?" Ren sounded curious.

"He double-bagged the stale bread before he threw it out, so it was always clean when I got to it." She explained. "That means a lot when you're a hungry street kid."

"He was a good man." Ren noted. "I hope he made it out."

"Me too." Nora agreed. They fell into silence for a moment.

"Nora, can I ask you something?"

"You just did, silly!" Nora teased.

"Why do you like me?" Ren asked, sounding utterly serious.

"What?" Nora asked, genuinely confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I'm not exactly the most energetic person around." Ren said, looking a shade uncomfortable. "Don't you worry you'll be bored with me?"

Nora honestly couldn't believe what she was hearing; did he really not understand? "Of course not, ya big dummy!" She punched him in the arm, but gently. Playfully.

"You seem pretty sure of that." Ren replied, the tiniest ghost of a smile on his face.

"That's cus I know I'm right!" She exclaimed. With that, she hopped off of his lap and reached under her bed, pulling out a plain wooden box. "Take a look at this." She lifted the lid and pulled out her most treasured possession.

"You kept it." Ren whispered, sounding slightly awed. "All these years and you still have it."

"Yup!" Nora affirmed, holding up a battered old toy mallet made of wood. "Boop!" She tapped Ren on the nose with it. "How could I ever be bored with you?" She carefully placed the mallet back in its box and slid it back under her bed. "You're the reason I'm still here!" She went back to cuddling with him. "Even with that _thing_ tearing up the village, you stopped to help me." She lightly kissed the corner of his mouth. "You ran back in to save a homeless orphan who you didn't even know." Another kiss, this time full on the lips. "You made the fear go away." She grinned devilishly before pinning him to the bed.

"Well, that escalated quickly." Ren deadpanned.

"I've wanted you for years," Nora smirked. "No way am I giving you up." And with that, she attacked, trapping Ren's mouth with her own. Suffice to say, it was a while before they did any more talking.

It was awkward up on the roof. It was very awkward. Supremely awkward. Awkward enough to make any hypothetical writer transcribing the mood on the rooftop wish that they'd made a hotkey for the word 'awkward'. Conversation had been forced and stilted, but maintained for fear of lapsing into yet more uncomfortable silence. Jaune… really wanted to just speak his mind, but he was having trouble with it. And so he completed his drills and they moved on to sparring, still enveloped in an unspoken tension.

And boy did it show; Jaune, of course was sloppy, but that was only to be expected given the circumstances. What was surprising was that _Pyrrha_ was seriously off her game as well, telegraphing her hits and leaving herself open to counterattacks. So, just to recap, it was a sparring match between a promising but inexperienced fighter and a tournament-winning warrior… and it was an absolute joke. "Okay…" Jaune panted. "This is stupid."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, sounding just the merest shade out of breath.

"This fight," Jaune explained, slightly more composed than he'd been a moment ago. "There's no point in sparring if we're gonna do it this badly." He took a deep breath. "So how about we just clear the air so we can focus, okay?"

"Sounds good." Pyrrha nodded, falling into a defensive stance.

"I'll just come out and say it;" Jaune fell into a stance of his own. "I'm sorry for dragging you down."

"What?" Pyrrha looked surprised, so Jaune decided to try his luck with a shield rush (hoping that Pyrrha's falling into a stance had been an unspoken agreement to spar while they talked).

"We both know I'm not good enough for you." Jaune said, stumbling forward as Pyrrha sidestepped him without any apparent effort. "So I'm just getting an apology out there, okay?"

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" Pyrrha asked, striking at his exposed back.

"I was in the library." Jaune admitted, turning and slashing.

"Dante's reading list?" Pyrrha asked, parrying with ease.

"Yep." Jaune confirmed, _almost_ bringing his shield up in time to defend against a thrust of Pyrrha's spear. "I figured it was the best way to improve."

"I'm surprised I didn't see you in the gym." Pyrrha said lightly, pushing him back with a shield bash.

"So soon before our training?" Jaune chuckled. "I'm not that dumb." With that, jabbed, only to have his sword slide off of her shield. "Seriously though;" He struck again, this time forcing her to block with her sword. "I promise that I'll improve." He pressed the attack. "I promise I'll be good enough for you one day."

"Jaune, you idiot!" Pyrrha sounded angry. He also went on the attack in a big way. "I can't believe you let me think you were afraid of me because of something so stupid!" Jaune frantically blocked with sword and shield, but a lot of blows connected anyway. "You just keep doing this!" He only just managed to block a particularly heavy strike, jarring his wrist. "Why can't you understand?" His grip weakened, the subsequent blow knocked the sword portion of Crucea Mors out of his hand, leaving him with only the shield. "You don't need to be perfect!" And somehow, through a complex maneuver that Jaune couldn't quite keep track of, he was divested of his shield in short order. "You just need to be here." Suddenly, and despite the sword to his throat, Jaune didn't see a warrior in front of him. He saw a teenage girl who was just as clueless about love as he was, and who wanted her boyfriend.

"Oh." Jaune said lamely. "I, uh, I messed up pretty bad, huh?" Pyrrha nodded, a tiny, fragile smile on her face. "Sorry about that, it's just- I just-" He sighed. "I just want to be good enough for you."

"Why don't you get it?" Pyrrha asked, pulling him into a hug. "You already are."

"Did you really think I was afraid of you?" Jaune asked after a moment.

"It made sense at the time." Pyrrha replied defensively.

"Don't you remember?" Jaune chuckled ruefully. "I'm the weirdo with a thing for girls who can beat me up."

"Is that so?" Pyrrha smirked, her voice growing slightly husky as she leaned in closer. "Well maybe you should remind me."

"Gladly." Jaune murmured, pulling her into a kiss. As much as he would have loved to simply savour the softness of her lips, but after a few seconds, his hand slid over a knot of tension in Pyrrha's shoulder. He sighed; it would have been nice to keep kissing her a little longer, but duty called. "Sit down." Jaune sighed, slipping neatly into doting boyfriend mode.

"What?" She sounded uncertain.

"Your shoulders are all knotted up." Jaune explained. "You've got way too much tension up there." With that, he slipped his gloves off and rested his hands on her shoulders. "So just sit back, relax and let me take care of it, okay?" After a moment, Pyrrha turned around and sat down, and Jaune got to work. "Man, you've really been stressed out, huh?" Jaune noted, feeling Pyrrha practically melt in his hands, occasionally giving some little gasp or squeak to indicate her enjoyment.

"I'm not used to relationships." Pyrrha said defensively, before sighing in pleasure as Jaune felt a particularly stubborn knot give way under his ministrations.

"Yeah well neither am I." Jaune replied soothingly. "I guess we're just gonna have to look like idiots together while we learn."

"Sounds good." Pyrrha murmured, still utterly blissed out. Jaune smiled to himself; he might not have been good at many things, but it was nice to know that he at least had one talent that could make Pyrrha happy. After all, if he had that, what else did he need?

Author's Notes: Welp, another chapter done, and once again, I have _no idea_ where parts of it came from. In case you haven't worked it out yet, I tend to wing it. I don't know why I wrote Jaune having a serious conversation with Cardin while they fought, but I'm glad I did. Same for Pyrrha and Velvet in the gym. So, yeah, a chapter devoted to them handling their insecurities. Here it is. Also, I instantly fell in love with every aspect of Ren and Nora's backstory as soon as I saw it. I mean come on! Ren going back for Nora, a scared, filthy urchin whose name he didn't even know! And her hammer! They actually gave a deep, emotional significance to her weapon of choice! I swear, if Ren and Nora don't end up together-together in canon, heads will roll. Oh, and of course, I'll be interested to see if anyone can tell me what the song Jaune's singing is. If you're familiar with it, then you have great taste in music. And one last thing; I've just started up a blog. It's mostly going to be general geekery, headcanons, and opinions on various pop culture. I might get political sometimes, so if you're not a fan of progressive, mildly socialist beliefs, well, ou've been warned. Currenty doing some stuff on Fooly Cooly. And be warned; I tend to work blue, so there's some strong language, which will occasionally stray into inventively graphic. You want to check it out, it's .


	19. Chapter 19: Family 2, electric boogaloo

Jaune knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn't help but worry a little when he got an unexpected call from his parents. So it was that, as he tapped the 'answer' icon, his mind was racing, going through every single worst-case scenario. _Let's see… maybe they know you faked your way in, or maybe somebody's sick… did something happen to Marie? Please, anything but that…_

"Jaune!" His father exclaimed happily.

"Hey dad." Jaune replied, the majority of his worries assuaged by his father's tone. "It's good to see you."

"It's lovely to see you too, dear." His mother ducked into view from the side.

"So, what's up?" Jaune asked, still completely in the dark.

"Well, we had a little chat with Amy." His mother explained, a knowing smile on her face.

"Oh boy, here we go." Jaune muttered to himself, now knowing _exactly_ why they called him.

"Well?" His father grinned expectantly. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your girlfriend?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Just give me a minute to go get her, okay?" He gestured for Pyrrha, who was nearby, to come over.

"Hello mister and missus Arc." Pyrrha said, waving shyly.

"Well, I'll be _mogadored_!" Jaune's father exclaimed, apparently feeling that conventional profanity was insufficient, and inventing his own.

"Well, that's certainly something of a shock." His mother murmured, sounding a little stunned.

"Damned impressive is what it is!" His father bellowed. "How in the blue blazes did you manage that?"

"I have no idea." Jaune replied cheerfully. "Honestly, I've just decided not to let a good thing go to waste."

"That's the way." His mother nodded. "It never pays to over-think these things."

"Especially when I've told him why." Pyrrha noted lightly. "I'm not sure he believes me."

"He always did have trouble taking compliments." His mother nodded sympathetically.

"Can you blame me?" He asked. "You're _way_ out of my league, Pyrrha."

"Take it from me;" His father advised. "That's a decision best left to her." His face split into an uncharacteristically sheepish grin. "Your mother had to teach me that, once upon a time."

"But that's a story for another day." His mother cut in, sounding a shade uncomfortable.

"Jaune!" Suddenly, and completely without forewarning, Marie's tiny face popped into view.

"Hey little squirt," Jaune laughed, delighted to see his little sister's huge grin. "Good to see you. You remember Pyrrha, don't you?"

"Uh-huh." Marie nodded.

"Well, you liked her, right?" Jaune didn't know why, but for some reason he felt slightly uncomfortable talking to his little sister about this, and thus found himself stalling slightly.

"Uh-huh!" Marie repeated, somewhat more enthusiastically this time.

"Well, she's, uh… my girlfriend." Jaune finished lamely.

After a moment, wherein she looked a great deal more contemplative than one might expect from a four-year-old, Marie spoke. "I was right!" She exclaimed joyfully. "You're gonna marry the pretty cereal lady!" And there it was, the sensation of a blush creeping onto his face. But for once, he felt like he actually had a way to turn it around.

"That's the plan, kiddo." He smirked, planting a kiss on Pyrrha's cheek.

" _Eeewwwww_!" Marie's face contorted in disgust, as if she'd just witnessed some unspeakable horror, rather than a harmless expression of affection.

"Well, just you be sure to be a gentleman, y'hear?" His father warned. "You're not too old for me to tan your hide if you don't treat that girl right."

"Pretty sure she'd beat you to it." Jaune chuckled. "Along with Ren, Nora, Coco, Velvet, and all of team RWBY." He thought about it for a second. "And maybe some of the teachers, or even Cardin. He's been acting kinda weird lately."

"Well, just as long as we're clear." His father said, seemingly mollified.

"Relax." Jaune assured him. "I know a good thing when I see it, okay? I don't wanna mess this up." With that, they said their goodbyes, and ended the call. "So," Jaune sighed after hanging up. "That was nice and awkward."

"A little." Pyrrha agreed. "But I think it's sort of nice."

"Wait, seriously?" Jaune couldn't quite believe his ears; was she joking?

"Trust me;" She joked. "It went better than it would have if _my_ parents had called." And that, of course, was when Pyrrha's scroll began to buzz; because life is cruel, and has excellent comedic timing.

"Do I even need to ask?" Jaune moaned, already resigned to his fate.

"It's my parents." Pyrrha confirmed glumly.

"Well, it's been fun." Jaune muttered.

"Hello mom, it's nice to see you." Pyrrha sounded nervous.

"Where is he?" A gruff male voice demanded.

"It's nice to see you too, dad." Pyrrha said, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.

"Dammit, where is the little blonde brat?!" The voice demanded. "Thinks he can lay a hand on my daughter, I'll show that long streak of cat's-"

"Antreas!" A woman's voice cut in. "Language! Now, Pyrrha, dear, could you please introduce us to him? And I'd just like to add," The woman's voice went on, growing slightly disapproving. "That I would have preferred to receive this news from you, rather than through some tabloid rag." Pyrrha turned to Jaune, an apologetic look on her face, and motioned for him to come over.

"H-hello, Mister and Missus Nikos." Jaune stammered, feeling the terror of a young man being introduced to his girlfriend's parents. "It's n-nice to meet you." Pyrrha's father had long chestnut-brown hair, green eyes, tanned skin and a short, slightly messy beard. And an expression of barely-contained fury.

"So you're the little turd!" He bellowed.

"Antreas!" Pyrrha's mother cut in again, her tone disapproving. She had red hair like Pyrrha's, although kept in a bun rather than a ponytail, porcelain-white skin, and mud-brown eyes. "You see, mister…"

"Jaune Arc." Jaune supplied, noting that, for some reason, Pyrrha's father seemed to react very slightly to his surname, as if it were familiar to him.

"Mister Arc," Pyrrha's mother continued. "My husband and I are somewhat… concerned for our daughter's wellbeing."

"Of course." Jaune nodded, having composed himself somewhat.

"Pyrrha's celebrity status can be a little problematic at times," She explained. "So I hope you won't take offense at our being unsure whether or not your intentions are pure."

"So what's the story, boy?" Antreas demanded. "You one of those degenerates who go online to say the most _disgusting_ things about my baby girl?"

"N-no sir!" Jaune squeaked. "I was never all that interested in the tournament circuit."

"Oh, then you're looking for your fifteen minutes of fame, aren't you?" H roared. " _Aren't you_?!"

"No sir!" Jaune replied, more confidently than before. "I didn't know who she was when we met, and her fame mostly just makes me self-conscious!"

"Oh, so you're after her body then!" He exclaimed triumphantly. "A vile little womanizer, eh? Who cares if you break a few hearts, just as long as you have your fun, eh?"

And just like that, something in Jaune's head went 'click'. "I don't have to take this." He stated bluntly. "Goodbye." With that, he ended the call, turned around, and… walked right into Pyrrha's father, who looked angrier than ever.

"My wife has an interesting Semblance." He growled, nodding towards her. She looked angry as well, but less so.

"R-really?" Jaune managed in a small voice. He hadn't been entirely sure before, but yes, Mr. Nikos was huge.

"Teleportation." The giant of a man sounded deceptively calm.

"Must be useful." Jaune whimpered.

"It is. Now…" Antreas reached down and picked Jaune up by his hood. "Shall we continue our conversation, or just skip to the part where you pick your teeth up off the floor?"

"Talking sounds like a good idea." Jaune murmured.

"Then you'd best get busy explaining yourself."

It was at this point, however, when every metallic object in Team JNPR's dorm began to fly at Pyrrha's father. "Let him go." Pyrrha demanded, sounding like she was trying very hard not to lose her temper.

"Now Pyrrha-" Antreas began.

"No." Pyrrha cut him off. "You don't know Jaune." She was suddenly in his face. "You think he's some sort of pervert or womanizer, but you're wrong!" Jaune stumbled slightly as Pyrrha's father dropped him. "He asked me to join his team before he knew who I was." She poked her father in the chest. "He treated me like a normal person instead of putting me on a pedestal." Another poke. "He was the first real friend I ever had." Poke. "And he wore a dress to the dance, just to cheer me up!"

"I really didn't have the legs for it." Jaune knew it wasn't the time, but he just couldn't resist. Surprisingly enough, it seemed to help; Pyrrha's father was obviously trying not to smile, while her mother smirked openly. "Look;" Jaune sighed. "We obviously got off on the wrong foot, so how about we start over. I'm Jaune Arc, it's nice to meet you." He offered his hand, which Pyrrha's father took after a moment of hesitation. Surprisingly enough, he made no effort to crush Jaune's metacarpals into splinters, instead limiting himself to a firm handshake.

"You Lucien's boy?" Pyrrha's father asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yessir." Jaune nodded. And just like that, all remaining tension seemed to vanish between them.

"Well, that's a horse of a different colour!" He exclaimed, clapping Jaune on the back. "Old Lucy's good people; I can't see him raising you wrong."

"Well, my sisters kind of did a lot of the raising." Jaune admitted shyly.

"Well, that's even better." Pyrrha's mother chipped in. "A boy raised by girls is a gentleman."

"Look, cards on the table:" Jaune began. "I still can't believe she decided to ask me out, and I have no idea how long this is gonna last, but until she realises her mistake, I just want to do right by her, and maybe that way I can make it so there's no mistake to realise."

"Well," Pyrrha's mother said after a moment's pause. "I'd say we misjudged you."

"If you want someone to be angry about, try asking Pyrrha's media coach about how she's been taught to deal with creeps." Jaune frowned slightly. "Just make sure you're not holding a weapon at the time."

"Well then, I guess there's nothing left but to wish you both the best of luck." Pyrrha's father said, a faint smile on his face. "But if you hurt my baby girl," He leaned in uncomfortably close to Jaune's face, lowering his voice to a hoarse rumble. "I'll gut you like a fish and watch you bleed out on the floor."

"If I hurt Pyrrha," Jaune replied, maintaining unbroken eye contact. "Then you can use my sword to do it."

"He really said that?" Ruby asked, her eyes wide. It had been a few hours since Pyrrha's parents had dropped by to terrorize Jaune, and Pyrrha had to admit, a little part of her was still reeling from what Jaune had told her father.

"He did." She confirmed, trying not to beam too much.

"That's so sweet!" The excited young Huntress exclaimed, turning to face Jaune, who was currently blushing into his dinner.

"I don't get what the big deal is." Jaune muttered.

 _He really doesn't, does he? The most romantic thing you've ever heard, and he acts like it's nothing. Of course, that just begs the question; what's it going to look like when he goes all-out?_ "It _was_ awfully romantic." Pyrrha said, slowly sliding her hand onto Jaune's thigh.

"It's nothing, really!" Jaune squeaked, apparently nervous about the unexpected contact. To be brutally honest, Pyrrha was feeling a little nervous herself. After all, this felt more intimate than she was used to. But on the other hand, she was a seventeen-year-old girl who knew what she liked, which is why, after a moment's hesitation, she relocated her hand to his… saddlery region.

"I disagree." Pyrrha smirked, enjoying the feel of his buttocks; partly out of sheer adolescent lust, partly because Jaune was cute when he was flustered, and partly, in a weird sort of way, out of pride in her work. After all, his butt was nowhere near as nice before she'd trained him. "It really made me happy to hear you say it."

"W-well, I was just saying how I f-felt." Jaune stammered, his eyes bulging slightly when Pyrrha decided to give his rear a quick squeeze.

"Say, is it just me, or is lover boy acting weird?" Yang asked with one eyebrow cocked. "And how come you're eating dinner one-handed?"

"Am I?" Pyrrha asked, straining to sound natural as she snatched her hand away from Jaune's posterior. "I hadn't noticed."

"No way…" Yang's eyes widened, right before her face split into a grin. "You were feeling him up!"

Pyrrha could feel herself redden. "No I wasn't!" She knew as soon as she said it that it wouldn't fly; she sounded about as far from convincing as possible.

"You totally were!" Yang exclaimed before erupting into laughter. "You grabbed his butt! You grabbed his butt in front of everyone!"

"What?!" Ruby began to laugh along with her sister. "I can't believe you did that in front of everyone!"

"I don't know what came over me!" Pyrrha cried. "He was just being so sweet…"

'So you groped him?" Blake asked, smirking idly. "Odd way of saying thank you."

"Please, no more!" Yang sputtered before falling clear off her chair, still laughing.

"So, what did it feel like?" Blake asked. "Springy, or firm?"

"Do you mind?" Weiss demanded indignantly. "Some of us are trying to eat, and this conversation's not doing anyone's appetite any favours!"

"I'd say it's probably helping Pyrrha's appetite." Blake deadpanned, prompting another explosion of laughter from Yang.

"I can't breathe!" The blonde huntress squealed, before collapsing into laughter once more.

"I think you broke Yang." Ruby giggled.

"Sorry." Blake muttered insincerely.

"But seriously," Yang managed after another 30 seconds or so of laughter. "Good for you, Pyrrha."

"Don't encourage her!" Weiss snapped.

"So, you gonna answer Blake?" Yang asked, grinning cheekily.

"W-what do you mean?" Pyrrha stammered, feeling the beginning of a cold sweat coming on.

"Firm or springy?" Yang asked, grinning diabolically. "It can't be squishy, not with all the training you've put him through."

"You may as well just answer her." Weiss sighed, sounding almost studiously disinterested. "It's the only way she'll ever stop."

"But…" Pyrrha trailed off, uncertain of what to say next.

"Exactly." Yang sniggered. "Butt."

"Do ya need to check it again?" Ruby asked, grinning more wickedly even than Yang.

"You- she- I give up." Pyrrha groaned.

"You're not the only one." Weiss noted drily, nodding toward Jaune, who had stood up and subtly angled his body to present his derriere for inspection without just waving it in her face.

"I can see where this is headed." He said, almost grimly. "You might as well get it over with now, otherwise they'll just keep bugging you about it. Except for her." He nodded toward Yang. "She'll probably decide to see for herself, and I'm pretty sure she's stronger than me, so…" He gave her a pleading look, which just made the whole situation even stranger.

"Fine," Pyrrha sighed. "But this is under protest." And with that, she reluctantly (that was her story, and she was sticking to it) reached over and gave Jaune's behind another squeeze.

"Well?" Yang asked. "What's the verdict?"

"Hmm… it's hard to say…" She gave it a couple more squeezes (for science).

"Uh, Pyrrha?" Jaune sounded nervous, and she couldn't blame him, but nevertheless…

"Almost done." She reassured him, shifting her grip and continuing her examination. "Definitely firm," She said authoritatively "But there's also a little bit of give."

Yang gave an appreciative low whistle. "Not too shabby."

"Uh, Pyrrha?" Jaune murmured. "You might wanna take a look around." Everyone in the cafeteria was looking at her. Some of them appeared to be shocked, but the majority were grinning hugely. After a moment more of silence, the room exploded with laughter.

"How embarrassing." Pyrrha muttered, blushing to the roots of her hair.

"I think I know how to fix this." Jaune said, his tone grave. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do." Pyrrha replied.

"Okay then." And with that, Jaune pulled her into a kiss that could best be described as 'clichéd'. Seriously, it was the full deal; one hand on the back of her head, the other on her back, with Jaune leaning forward slightly so that she was bent back. After a moment of shock she found her own arms wrapping around his neck as she closed her eyes. Honestly all that was left was for her to raise one leg behind her back and they'd look like the cover of at least three of Blake's trashy pulp romance stories. And then she felt his tongue dart along her lower lip and, as she opened her mouth to allow it entrance, she bent one leg at the knee, raising her heel until it was behind her… behind, and she realised that she didn't really care if they looked like something off of a book cover.

After a few seconds, they separated. "That was… wow." It sounded cheesy, she knew, but at that moment, words were proving a little difficult to wrangle.

"Yeah." Jaune agreed, blushing pinkly. "And you know what?" He grinned. "I think everyone's already forgotten about your busy hands." He winked at her and returned to his dinner.

"An interesting choice of distraction." Weiss commented, failing to keep a smile from her face.

"Bold strategy, Blake. Let's see if it pays off." Yang smirked.

"Hey, embarrassment is my specialty." Jaune chuckled. "And if this doesn't work I'll just wear a dress again!"

"You'd be the laughing stock of the school!" Pyrrha pointed out.

"Eh, that's probably gonna happen anyway." Jaune shrugged. "And if they're laughing at me, they're not laughing at you." He grinned. "I'm used to it." After hearing Jaune's logic, Pyrrha was sorely tempted to grab hold of him and stage a repeat performance of his initial 'distraction', and probably would have, had her scroll not chosen that moment to ring. Frowning slightly, Pyrrha accepted the call.

"Hey!" A girl Pyrrha had never met before greeted her. "You must be Jaune's girlfriend, so good to see you." She looked like the embodiment of punk rock; her bright pink hair was a riotous mess of spikes, cut asymmetrically with a fringe that covered one eye. "Would you mind too terribly if we had a little chat?" Of course, that still left one eye visible, allowing Pyrrha to see that it was the exact same shade of grey as Jaune's father's eyes were. If Pyrrha had to guess, she'd say that the girl was probably around eighteen or nineteen.

"Claudia?" Jaune sounded dumbstruck. "How'd you get Pyrrha's number?!"

"That's not important." Claudia replied flippantly.

"Isn't it?" Pyrrha asked sceptically.

"Look," Claudia sighed. "Just head off somewhere that this can be a private conversation and I promise I'll start by telling you how I got your number, okay?"

"Would a dorm room be okay?" She enquired.

"Perfect!" Claudia exclaimed cheerfully, and as she smiled, Pyrrha found her eyes drawn to the piercings. The nose ring, the lip stud, the safety pin through one ear, and the bullet casing hanging from the other.

"Well, here we are." Pyrrha said, after a somewhat awkward couple of minutes spent walking in almost complete silence.

"Fantastic." And just like that, Claudia's cheerful expression dropped from her face as she gave Pyrrha an appraising look. She gave a low whistle. "Well how about that, looks like my little bro's gone and found a way to impress me." She grinned again, but this time nowhere near as brightly or innocently. "Seriously, looking at you almost makes me wish I was bent like Amy."

"I'm sorry, but why did we need to have this conversation?" Pyrrha asked, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

"Well, y'see, Amy went ahead and filled me in on the situation between you and Jauney." Claudia explained. "And I just wanted to make sure a few things were clear."

"I think I know where this is going." Pyrrha noted.

"I know Amy gave you the whole 'don't hurt him' warning, but…" She seemed hesitant for a second. "Well, I guess I'm just worried that you don't know how easy it is to hurt him without even meaning to."

"I think I have an idea of what you mean." Pyrrha replied.

"Do you?" Claudia shot back. "Because I was under the impression that you've known him for less than a year." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, that was rude."

"You were right though." Pyrrha admitted. "There's a lot I don't know about him."

"Just be careful, okay?" There was an almost pleading note to Claudia's voice. "He's not in this for a little fun, y'know? This is a long-haul thing for him." She smiled faintly. "He wouldn't have gone out with you if he didn't think you were worth spending his whole life with."

Pyrrha felt her heart flutter at that, just a little (or a lot). "I want this to last as well," She offered. "More than you could imagine."

"And don't push him around, either." Claudia warned. "That boy'll let you walk all over him if you're not careful."

"We've been working on that." Pyrrha said, a hint of a giggle creeping into her voice.

"Well okay then," Claudia said, suddenly a lot more cheerful. "I'd say that's just about everything, well, except for that…" Her expression turned fearsome. "You've heard about the ginger beer trick?" She snarled. Pyrrha nodded mutely. "Well I'm the one who came up with it." And with that, the call ended… only for Pyrrha's scroll to ring a moment later. "I forgot to tell you how I got your number." Claudia stated brightly.

"How did you get it?" Pyrrha asked, a tiny bit afraid of what the answer might be.

"It was on Jaune's scroll." Claudia explained. "It's pretty easy to hack." With that, she hung up.

"Well, I could have done without knowing that." Pyrrha muttered to herself.

Ren was happy for his teammates, he really was. But at the same time… was jealousy the right word? It was just, well, a little tough sometimes. Specifically, seeing them getting calls from their families was just a little bit hard to deal with. He'd had similar problems when Jaune's family had shown up, and he was having them now. He knew they didn't mean to, but every time they got a call from family, it scraped across a raw nerve that he knew Nora shared; they had parents, he didn't.

"I'm so sorry about Claudia." Jaune was still apologizing to Pyrrha, as he had been since she'd told him about her conversation with his sister. "She means well, but she's always been kind of… intense."

"Jaune, it's okay." Pyrrha had been attempting to reassure him since he'd started apologizing, without much success. "My parents literally teleported into our dorm to threaten you. You have nothing to apologize for."

"I guess we've both got some overprotective family, huh?" Jaune joked, and it was at this point that Ren decided he'd had enough.

"I'm going to take a walk." Ren said, a little stiffly, as he stood up and headed for the door.

"Take a walk where?" Jaune asked. Ren just turned to face him and shrugged, before leaving the room. After a couple of minutes of aimless wandering, he became aware of someone walking behind him.

"Hey Nora." He didn't even need to turn around; he just _knew_ it was her. After spending so many years together, he'd come to recognise the sound of her approach (the strength of her footfalls, the rhythm of her gait), without ever even meaning to.

"Hey Ren!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around his shoulders. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," He reassured her. "Just getting a little tired of all the family stuff."

"I know whatcha mean." Nora said, and of course, she did; she'd been through even worse than him in that regard. "It gets a bit old hearing them talk about their parents so much."

"Not to mention all of Jaune's sisters." Ren noted glumly. "What kind of people want that many kids, anyway?"

"Pyrrha had better be careful." Nora snickered. "Can you imagine her with eight kids?"

Ren shuddered. "Don't even joke about that."

"Promise I won't ask for more than two." Nora joked.

"I'll hold you to that." Ren warned.

"Just as long as you hold me!" Nora chirped, burying her face in his chest.

"Of course." Ren smiled, wrapping his arms around her. It was, he reflected, amazing how this hyperactive little redhead could always make him feel better, no matter what.

"Are… we interrupting something?" Ren turned his head to confirm that, yes, it was Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Just talking." Ren replied easily.

"Mind if we join in?" Jaune asked.

"No offense," Ren began cautiously. "But I'm not sure you'd really get it."

"Is it something personal?" Pyrrha enquired politely.

"Not exactly." Ren hesitated for a moment. "It's kind of hard to explain, but…"

"It's an orphan thing." Nora stated plainly.

"An orphan thing?" Jaune asked, sounding confused.

"A lot of emotional baggage." Ren explained. "Loneliness, concern about the future, occasional jealousy; that sort of thing."

"And maybe having to put up with your friends acting like insensitive idiots?" Jaune muttered, a sheepish grin on his face.

"You worked out what we were upset about." Ren phrased it as a statement rather than a question, given how obvious it was.

"I'm getting better at reading you." Jaune replied proudly. "Plus, Nora really kinda wears her heart on her sleeve."

"Fair enough." Ren smiled fondly. "It must be nice."

"What must be nice?" Pyrrha asked.

"Knowing that you've got a family looking out for you." Ren replied simply.

"It's scary handling things alone sometimes." Nora murmured. "You're lucky you've got your families."

"As far as I'm concerned, you guys _are_ family." Jaune said, and Ren could tell by the conviction in his voice that he meant every word of it.

"That means a lot to me." Ren smiled wanly, but his heart wasn't quite in it. "But it's not the same and—" He stopped mid-sentence, seeing that Jaune had pulled out his scroll. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry, I just need to make a call." Jaune said, sounding vaguely distracted. After a moment, Nora's scroll began to ring.

"Hello?" Nora answered her scroll nervously.

"Hey Nora," Jane said as his face popped up on Nora's scroll. "Do you have a minute?"

"Uh, sure, I guess." Nora said, obviously confused.

"It's just that you're dating my brother, so I figured this had to happen." Ren's eyes widened as he realised what was coming; could Jaune really be that sappy? "Just… don't hurt him, okay? He's had a hard life, y'know? Be careful." Yes, he was _absolutely_ that sappy. He was the king of saps. If you cut him, he'd bleed maple syrup because he was _just that sappy_.

"I'll, uh, keep it in mind." Nora said, still obviously confused. And that's when _Ren's_ scroll rang. Already fairly certain of how things were going to go, he shot a look at Pyrrha and, yep, she was currently making a call on her scroll.

"Hello, Ren speaking." He knew exactly what was coming, and had resolved to simply get the whole (oddly touching) farce over and done with.

"Hey, it's Pyrrha, do you have a minute?" Ren allowed himself a tiny grin.

"Sure," He replied. "I've got nothing better to do."

"It's just that you're dating my sister, so… look out for her." Pyrrha said, seeming a little uncertain. "She's been through a lot, and she really cares about you a lot."

"I care about her a lot." Ren stated bluntly.

"Just as long as we understand each other." Pyrrha smiled, before ending the call.

For a few seconds, nobody said anything. Ren wasn't sure why the others were silent, but in his case it was simply because he didn't know what to say. In fact, he was dealing with so much emotion that, then and there, he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to speak if he tried. He could feel a tightness in his chest, and a lump in his throat. It was a new experience; he was actually so choked up that it physically _hurt_. His vision began to blur as his eyes welled up with tears, and, still unable to find his voice, and still desperate to communicate how much their gesture meant to him, Ren did something he'd never done before. He initiated a group hug.

"R-Ren?!" Jaune's tone was one of incredulity. "Are you okay?"

"I am now." Ren said, finally finding his voice, his dearest friends all around him.

Author's Notes: Let's be real here; you weren't ready for that, were you? Don't lie to me, you weren't ready for something that emotional. _I_ wasn't ready for it, and I wrote it! Seriously, I fell in love with that moment as soon as I thought of it. And wow, for someone who claims to relish making people want to punch me in the face, I've been writing some seriously pleasant fluff, huh? Writing Pyrrha's parents was a hoot, and I'd had the teleportation idea for ages, so it felt good to have that done. It should, by now, go without saying that I always enjoy writing pervy Pyrrha, but I'll repeat; pervy Pyrrha is fun to write. I liked adding some variety to the Arc sisters, although I fear that the whole 'tough as nails punk rock girl' may have been me playing to my own tastes just a little (shout out to any punks reading this!). So, well… yeah, that's it for this chapter, expect actual plot and maybe even (gasp!) action in the next chapter. As always, reviews are appreciated, if you make fanart of anything I wrote, send me a link so that I may praise you as my new god, and since I messed up last time and forgot that you can't include links, here's the URL for my new blog (remove spaces, obviously) losersmusings . blogspot . com


	20. Chapter 20: Battle

It had been an otherwise normal day when Team JNPR were called up to Professor Ozpin's office. Nora wasn't sure exactly why, but she could feel a little thrill of anticipation in the back of her mind. A certain… electricity in the air. It was hard to explain; she just _knew_ that something big was going to happen.

"This is going to be important, isn't it?" Ren murmured.

"I think so." Nora nodded, noticing Ren's hands clench into fists as she answered, and a slight tightening at the corner of his mouth. He always did tense up a little when she told him she had a bad feeling about something. Before long, they reached Ozpin's office, where he was, of course, standing at the window looking out and drinking a cup of coffee.

"Ah, Team JNPR," Ozpin said, turning to face them mid-sentence. "You certainly didn't keep me waiting for long." He smiled. "Congratulations on your newly blossoming relationships, by the way."

"If you don't mind, sir," Nora could hear the slight tremor in Jaune's voice; clear proof he was nervous about talking to the headmaster for any reason. "I think we'd all like to know why you called us here."

"Well, I'm afraid it's… rather serious, and a little embarrassing for certain people." Ozpin said, looking a little nervous himself. "You see, General Ironwood took custody over the man you captured not long ago, which, as it turns out, was somewhat ill-advised." He sighed. "Kage, presumed to be an alias," Ozpin noted. "Escaped from custody. We assume he had inside help with this, of course." The concern in his voice was obvious; obviously there was even worse news. "And on his way out, it appears that he was able to obtain some very sensitive information." He seemed almost apologetic. "And unfortunately, neither Ironwood nor I have any teams ready at the moment, which makes the issue of recovering the stolen information… rather problematic."

"We can do it!" Nora volunteered before she even knew why, but it only took her a second to understand; Kage (it was nice having a name to put to the face) had nearly killed her. That had left its mark; both in the scar on her belly, and in the doubt she felt in the back of her mind. She needed to face him, because if she didn't, she'd never forgive herself, and she'd always have that seed of doubt haunting her.

"Miss Valkyrie," Ozpin began. "While your bravery does you credit, surely you must know that I can't possibly send a team of students to fight someone as dangerous as this."

"We beat him before!" Nora protested.

"And you nearly died in the process!" Ozpin shot back, slamming his coffee down on his desk, spilling some of it onto his hand.

"Then we'll do better this time!" Nora replied fiercely. A tiny part of her was watching Ozpin, waiting for him to react to the scalding hot coffee he'd spilled on his hand.

"I'm afraid I'll need more than an assurance that you'll 'do better' before I can even begin to consider approving this course of action." His voice remained level, and to Nora's surprise he didn't appear to have even noticed what looked like it would most likely shape up to be a rather nasty burn.

"I know what to expect!" Nora countered. "And his stupid electric cable only worked on me last time 'cuz my Aura ran out!"

"Do you know his Semblance?" Ozpin asked sharply. "Because I don't recall seeing any mention of it in the mission report that mister Arc turned in."

"We're still your best choice!" Nora pointed out. "You need to send someone, and we know Kage better than anyone else you've got."

"I suppose that is true…"Ozpin muttered.

"And we'll know to expect an ambush this time." Jaune offered, nodding to Nora with a smile that said 'I'm on your side'.

"A fair point." Ozpin murmured, sounding, at least to Nora's ears, like he was giving the idea serious thought. "And it _is_ important that we retrieve that information before it can make it to the White Fang's leaders…" He sighed. "Very well; Team JNPR, I hereby charge you with the capture of Kage and the retrieval of the stolen information. However, I'd appreciate it if you could see your way to exercising caution in this instance. Luckily, we were able to place a tracking device on Kage without his knowledge. He's currently making his way through the Emerald Forest." After a moment, a look of confusion flashed across his face and he turned his attention to his hand, which was still splattered with scalding hot coffee. "Well, that's certainly unfortunate."

Within a few minutes, they were fully equipped and making their way to the Emerald Forest. And Jaune was _freaking out_. "Okay," He said nervously, while trying to remember every single fragment of information regarding tactics he'd ever read, all at once. "So, how about Pyrrha and I lead the charge, and you two back us up… or maybe you two should be in front, and we back _you_ up… or we could go for a pincer movement, just as long as we don't all go off on our own—"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha's voice snapped him out of his rambling. "Calm down and think."

"Okay," Jaune replied, taking a deep breath. "You're right. Ammo check!"

"Fully loaded!" Nora exclaimed happily.

"Ready!" Pyrrha piped up.

"Two full clips locked and loaded." Ren stated calmly.

"Safeties off!" Jaune commanded, only to be rewarded by the 'clicks' of safeties being flipped.

"Stay close, watch each other's backs, and we'll work out the rest later." With that, Jaune began, very quickly and logically, to sort through his tactical options. After a minute, he checked the GPS that Ozpin had given him. "Huh, that's kinda weird."

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Kage's stopped moving; he's in that clearing up ahead." Jaune tapped the GPS and zoomed in further, just to be sure, and it was definitely showing Kage as being in the clearing. "Okay guys, be careful; we're going in." They advanced slowly, and…

"Where is he?" Nora asked. And indeed, the clearing was completely empty.

"Guys," Jaune began in a calm voice, only just loud enough for his friends to hear. "Don't panic, but we need to move into a defensive formation."

"Jaune, what's—" Pyrrha began.

"Now!" Jaune hissed. And so, within a few seconds they were in a defensive square.

"Aww, that's no fun!" A mocking voice rang out from the tree line as a black-clad figure dropped down into the clearing. "I was gonna get the jump on you, take you out one by one, all that good stuff." Kage smirked as he settled into a fighting stance. "Hell, this works too."

"Sounds like a lot more fun if you ask me, boss." Another man dropped from the trees, his forked tongue flicking out as he spoke.

"Dammit Hebi, you were meant to stay in the trees and sneak attack them!" Kage berated his subordinate.

"For a bunch of snot-nosed kids?" Hebi scoffed. "Why even bother? The two of us could kill them in two minutes flat, even without the rest of the team."

"Anyone else in the trees?" Ren asked sardonically.

"No!" An unseen woman called out from the trees. "Nobody here but us chickens!"

"I thought you were a hawk!" Hebi yelled back.

"It's a figure of speech, moron!" With that, a woman dropped into view, the brown feathers on her forearms rustling slightly as she landed.

"Ignore him, Taka." A fourth assassin appeared, and a small part of Jaune's brain wondered how he was able to speak so clearly. _I mean, you'd expect the tusks to get in the way…_ "You're just giving him what he wants when you get all riled up."

"Buta," Kage sounded exasperated. "You're the sensible one, so why aren't you in position?"

"Not much point, seeing as these two clowns blew our cover." The large, tusked man said, clapping his hands down on Hebi and Taka's shoulders.

"Fair enough." Kage sneered. "And hey, they're just kids, after all."

"My Renny kicked your butt last time!" Nora yelled, clearly furious.

"It's cute that you think that." Kage murmured, nodding at his underlings. And with that, Taka thrust her arms forward, and a massive gust of wind knocked Team JNPR to the ground.

"Okay," Jaune moaned. "This is gonna be tough, but I think we've got this."

"Good for you," Buta sneered, the effect helped by his tusks. "You're wrong." With that, the heavily-built Faunus stomped one foot down, opening up a fissure that emanated from his foot, one that Jaune only just managed to jump away from before it trapped his leg. Before he could react further, Taka was in his face, slashing out at him with a short, single-edged sword, which he just barely managed to block.

"Time to have some fun." Hebi said, making a beeline for Pyrrha, a white-bladed knife in his hand. Of course, she blocked easily and sent his staggering back with a strike of her own.

"I don't think you'll be having much fun." Pyrrha warned, adjusting her stance slightly. _Shoulders! You've got too much tensions in your shoulders!_ Realising her mistake, she took a deep breath, relaxed the muscles in her shoulders, and swung at Hebi.

"Nice try!" Hebi jeered, ducking under her sword and lunging forward, knife slashing. Before he could connect, she activated her semblance… and was shocked when Hebi's knife, completely unaffected by her Polarity Semblance, carved through the hard leather of her armour, bouncing off her Aura and driving the air out of her belly. "Ceramic knife." Hebi grinned. "In fact I don't have a single piece of metal on my body, so your little magnet trick won't be much help." With that, he threw a punch that Pyrrha _almost_ avoided completely. As it was, it clipped her shoulder, causing a small amount of pain and nothing else.

"If you think you can beat me just because you're not carrying any metal, you're in for a surprise." Pyrrha replied, knocking Hebi back with a shield bash before taking his legs out from under him.

"I doubt it." Hebi chuckled, scything Pyrrha's legs out from under her with a kick. "See, you might be good, but you're still just a kid." He leapt to his feet, idly toying with his knife. "But me? I'm a pro. I've been doing this for a decade now, and I've gotten good at it."

"Is that so?" Pyrrha asked, springing to her feet and taking a swing at his wrist, causing him to drop his knife. "Because honestly, you're not really that impressive."

"Oh, you sweet summer child." Hebi chuckled, before slashing at Pyrrha with a second blade, taking a lock of her hair as she dodged. "You really thought I only had one knife?" Pyrrha blocked the next few strikes with ease, then a couple more with a degree of difficulty. "Amateur." And suddenly, Pyrrha began to feel… strange. Her vision blurred slightly, she couldn't seem to focus. "What's the matter, feeling a little under the weather?" Hebi leered, slashing at her face. She blocked it, but her arms felt like lead, and her sword tumbled out of nerveless fingers. He lashed out with a kick to her stomach, driving the air out of her lungs, a cruel gleam in his eyes. "Too bad." She managed to block the next slash, and even managed a sluggish shield bash, but somehow ended up robbed of her shield as a result. And she didn't know why, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to break eye contact with Hebi.

"What's… what's going on…?" Pyrrha mumbled, barely able to gather her thoughts enough to speak.

"That'd be my Semblance." Hebi smirked. "All I need to do is make eye contact with someone and the fun starts!" He rolled his shoulders and leered. "First comes the blurring vision, then your mind wanders. Your body stops moving right, and before long, you can't even keep your Aura up. Speaking of which…" And indeed, Pyrrha could feel her Aura begin to flicker and die. "Well, it's been fun, but I'd say it's just about time for me to wrap this up." He strolled forward, knife in hand as Pyrrha tried desperately to move, to raise her Aura, to do _anything_ except stand there and die…

* ** _WHAP!_** * Hebi's eyes bugged out of his face as a thrown sword smacked into the back of his head, pitching him forward slightly and causing him to drop his knife in surprise. Pyrrha felt her mind clear and strength return to her limbs. She turned her attention to the sword, now on the ground, and immediately recognised it as Jaune's Crucea Mors. _Here's your chance! Attack!_ Pyrrha snapped to attention, using her Semblance to re-arm herself and catching her opponent off-guard with a shield bash, followed by a disarming strike and a slash at his shoulder. With the time this bought her, she tossed Jaune his sword, tripping Hebi up with a low kick.

Jaune caught his sword just in time to slash out at Taka, buying some space. It had been pretty hairy, fighting her off with just his shield; he'd found his offensive _and_ defensive capabilities seriously reduced, and he'd taken a seriously heavy hit when he'd thrown his sword in the first place, but it wasn't as if he'd had much choice in the matter. After all, Pyrrha had been in a tough spot (he wasn't exactly sure _why_ , though), and there was no way he'd have been able to disengage from Taka in time to help her. That being said… "Guys, ambush plan!" Ever since their first encounter with Kage, Jaune had put time and effort into coming up with a contingency plan in the event of an ambush. He would have given the order sooner, but his inability to disengage from Taka complicated matters.

However, now that Pyrrha had a little more room to breathe, things were a lot simpler. He braced himself as he felt the tug of her Semblance on his armour. Honestly, he was more than a little proud of the plan he'd come up with: if someone couldn't safely disengage on their own, then the rest of the team assisted, with the assistance being contingent on who could and couldn't disengage. As it was, he seemed to be the only one who couldn't find a way to disengage, which was bad news for his opponent.

"Bye!" Jaune said cheerfully, blocking Taka's sword as he surrendered himself to the pull of Pyrrha's Semblance, allowing her to drag him swiftly away by his armour. He couldn't help but grin as a grenade sailed over his shoulder, striking Taka full in the chest and sending her flying backwards, slamming into a tree. "Okay," Jaune began as he and his friends fell into a defensive square. "What are we dealing with?"

"The big one's faster than he looks." Ren stated plainly.

"Good to know." Jaune replied.

"Don't make eye contact with Hebi," Pyrrha warned him. "That's how he nearly got me."

"Okay, eyes down, got it." Jaune nodded. "Kage doesn't seem to be doing much, and the woman, I think they called her Taka, moves fast and has that whole air blast thing, but she doesn't really hit all that hard."

"Hebi's nothing special up close." Pyrrha murmured, quietly so as to make sure only her friends heard. "And I didn't see any sort of ranged weapon."

"Buta only has a shotgun for ranged combat." Ren added. "A short-barrelled one built into his hammer. And his Semblance only seems to have an effective range of about twelve feet."

"Plus it only effects targets on the ground." Jaune noted. "Taka only has her semblance for range. It's got a range of about fifty feet judging from how it disturbed the branches, but it probably won't be strong enough to knock you down past about twenty unless you're already off-balance."

"And Kage's chain-cable-thingy is only about ten feet long." Nora hissed.

"So, fifty feet for the air blasts, innefective after twenty and slow firing. Twelve feet for the shockwaves, and they only work if we're on the ground, and ten feet for the electrified cable." It didn't take a genius to work out the best option. "Pyrrha, is there any metal on any of the nearby trees?" It _did_ however take, at the very least, a promising young tactician to consider, in the heat of the moment, that their enemy might have thought the same thing.

"All of them." Pyrrha confirmed after a moment.

"Great," Jaune moaned. "They booby trapped the trees." He thought for a moment. "Alright, how about the air strike?"

"Works for me." Pyrrha assented.

"I'm in!" Nora said excitably.

"Well, I don't have any better plans." Ren shrugged.

"Okay then, let's do this before they take us out!" Jaun said, falling to one knee and bracing his shield at and angle, Pyrrha doing the same next to him. Ren leapt deftly onto his shield, while Nora hopped onto Pyrrha's. He noted that Taka and Hebi had begun to advance cautiously, clearly uncertain as to what would happen next. _Well, they're in for a nasty surprise, now aren't they?_ Jaune grinned to himself as he felt the shock travelling through his shield arm of Ren leaping into the air, assisted by a pulse of his Aura. Next to him, Nora used a grenade to rocket off Pyrrha's shield, soaring up high.

"What the—" Hebi began, only to be cut off as a hail of bullets and grenades rained down on him and Taka. While the two were still unbalanced from those attacks, Jaune and Pyrrha rushed them, catching them off-guard and knocking them back with simultaneous shield-bashes. While Hebi was unbalanced, Jaune followed up with a quick strike to the knee, hoping to limit mobility. He knew that, while he and Pyrrha engaged Taka and Hebi, Ren and Nora had the others handled, at least for the time being. "Not bad, kid." Hebi sneered, lashing out with a slash that bounced off of Jaune's shield. "But you're out of your weight class."

"Do you need something for that headache?" Jaune snorted, parrying Hebi's follow-up strike and recalling something from Dante's reading list. _If your opponent is choleric, seek to irritate him._

"You're a dead man." Hebi hissed.

"Great." Jaune whimpered, giving out a little squeal of distress every time he blocked, parried or dodged one of Hebi's blows, making no attempt to counter. _Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant._ He withdrew with every blow he deflected, maintaining the appearance of a terrified rookie, completely out of his depth, until finally, and opening presented itself. And it was one heck of an opening; the sort that never would have presented itself if Hebi hadn't underestimated him. To be precise, Hebi reared back for a full-on, movie-style overhand stab. Jaune wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him, slamming into his opponent's gut with the edge of his shield, driving the air out of him. Jaune followed up by swiftly and sharply raising his shield to strike Hebi in the chin before driving a knee into his groin.

"You brat!" Hebi wheezed, bent over slightly and knock-kneed. "I'll tear you apart for that!" Enraged, Hebi charged forward, clearly focused entirely on getting back at Jaune. Focused so entirely, in fact, that he failed to notice Taka's short-bladed sword sticking diagonally out of the ground, where Pyrrha had planted it with her Semblance. _Be aware of your surroundings; to know the battlefield is to rule it._ Hebi tripped over the sword and, as he began to pick himself up, Pyrrha sent Taka stumbling backwards, causing her to trip over Hebi and reducing them both to a tangled heap of limbs. Now, in a situation like this, the honourable thing to do would be to wait for their enemies to get back up and ready for round 2. But honourable isn't exactly synonymous with intelligent, so Jaune and Pyrrha instead opted to get stuck in, hacking, kicking and jabbing at them, not even letting them catch their breath.

Nora didn't look back at Jaune and Pyrrha: she didn't need to. If they needed help, they'd ask for it and honestly, she kind of had her hands full as it was. Ren had Buta more or less covered, leaving her with Kage. He was good. His every movement was quick and fluid, shifting from attacking to defending in an instant. Unpredictable, too. Quite simply, between the sickle, the weighted cable, and the occasional kick that seemed to come out of nowhere, it was basically impossible to defend against everything. Which is why she didn't _try_ to defend against everything. The kicks were more of an annoyance than a threat, after all, so she focused on deflecting only the heavier attacks with the sickle and the weighted cable, which freed her up enough to land some hits of her own.

"Didn't I kill you already?" Kage taunted, lashing out with his sickle.

"Nope!" Nora replied, deliberately putting as much cheer as possible into her voice, just to annoy him as she deflected his strike with the haft of her hammer. "I lived and Ren kicked your butt!" With that, she quickly struck Kage in the stomach with the haft of her hammer, using the momentary opportunity it created to swing for his head.

"Well, if at first you don't succeed…" Kage muttered, ducking under Nora's swing and kicking at her side. Nora grit her teeth as the kick landed, and, the moment it impacted, smashed Kage right in the face. No backswing, no setup, just forward momentum and a painful-looking impact. "Try, try again!" Kage hissed, striking her in the shoulder with the weighted cable of his weapon.

"You're still gonna lose!" Nora shot back, swinging low to sweep at Kage's leg. Kage leapt over it and kicked her in the face. Nora swung overhead. Kage sidestepped and slashed at her face. She caught him off-guard by just shoving forward, smacking him in the face with the haft of Magnhild, causing him to stumble back a step. Nora pressed the advantage, thrusting he hammer like a spear to catch him in the hip before he could regain his balance. Suddenly, his expression shifted to one of predatory glee.

"Not bad," He chuckled hoarsely. "Now let's have some fun." And just like that, Nora found herself surrounded by darkness. "Do you know what our codenames mean?" His voice asked from the inky blackness. "Hebi, Taka, Buta are snake, hawk and pig respectively. But do you know what Kage means?" The weighted cable snaked out of the darkness, clipping Nora's arm as she dodged. "It means shadow." And just like that, Nora was forced onto the defensive, desperately blocking and dodging attacks that she couldn't see coming. "Not so tough now, little girl." She spun on her heel and swung at the source of his voice, feeling it connect and hearing his grunt of pain as she sent him flying. "Okay," He chuckled. "I probably deserved that."

And with that, the fight changed once more. Kage stopped moving in close altogether, instead whittling her down with blows from the weighted cable. She did her best to evade them, but between Kage's silent movements, the fact that she could only see them when they were about a foot away, and the sheer speed at which he struck, more of them found their mark than missed. After a few minutes of this sort of punishment, Nora was close to her limit.

"Well, at least you tried." Kage chuckled, the weighted cable of his weapon wrapping itself around Magnhild. "Trust me, I've had a lot of easier kills than you, kid." With that, he disarmed Nora and walked into her field of vision. "Hmm," He scowled, looking off to the side, peering into the darkness. "It looks like you guys are better than I thought." He shrugged. "Well, I guess there's no harm in lending a hand; _you're_ certainly not a threat." He struck at an unseen target, and Nora heard a grunt of pain that sounded distinctly male. _So, he either got Ren or Jaune. Not good._ The air filled with the smell of ozone and, over the crackling of electricity, Nora heard what was most definitely Ren crying in pain.

"No!" Nora cried, running blindly toward the sound of Ren's voice. * _WHAM!_ * Kage kicked her in the stomach, _hard_. She rose to her feet and kept moving, only to take a hit to her leg. She dragged herself forward regardless. He swept her feet out from under her and planted a foot between her shoulder blades, pinning her to the ground.

"You know, I was gonna keep this a secret, but it's really just too good not to share. A little unprofessional, but I won't tell if you won't." Nora tried to force herself up, but Kage simply pressed down harder. "The first time we met? When I slit your belly like a fish, and the brat that I'm currently frying like one broke my nose? I wanted to lose." _Wait, what?_ "I dosed myself with a drug to weaken my Aura, I fought like a chump, and I took the beating." He chuckled darkly. "I mean, how else would I get access to Ironwood's airship? And you idiots fell for it; let me right in, left me in custody with a traitor in your midst, and basically just gift-wrapped all your sensitive data." Ren's screams suddenly took on a higher pitch as the smell of ozone strengthened. "And once I've finished you idiots off, I'll deliver it to my superiors, and then things get _really_ fun!"

 _Do something! Nobody else can right now, so it has to be you! Your exhausted Aura, your weak position, none of that matters! All that matters is that if you don't stop him, everyone you care about will die, starting with Ren. So get up and DO SOMETHING!_ "Rrraaaarggh!" Roaring with exertion, Nora mustered all of her strength and pushed herself up. Not all the way up, of course. She might have tried the brute-force approach once, but she knew better now. She'd learned that there were other options. Which was why, as soon as she'd pushed herself up far enough, she turned onto her side. It wasn't much, but it was enough; Kage's foot went from pressing down on her back to being planted firmly on the ground, and she had her opportunity.

"What the…" Kage trailed off, sounding uncertain. Nora ignored him, instead wrapping her hand around the electrified cable. She felt the power course through her body, restoring her strength and then some, to the point where she actually began to glow faintly. She wrapped the cable around her hand, and pulled Kage in… **_*_** ** _WHAM!_** ** _*_** There had been more impressive punches, but none outside of comic books or epic ballads.

" _You don't get to hurt my friends!_ " Nora screeched, casting her eyes about the darkness. With the dim light of her sudden luminescence, she was able to easily locate Magnhild, and, taking advantage of the brief break in combat, quickly loaded it with a special grenade. She knew she wouldn't be giving off light for much longer unless she got another shock, so she fired a flare at her feet, lighting up the unnatural darkness Kage had summoned. She stormed forward and struck Kage as she rose to his feet. " _You don't get to_ _ **talk**_ _about hurting my friends!"_ She struck him again, this time towards the flare. " _You don't get to_ _ **think**_ _about hurting my friends!"_ She didn't let up, even for a second, battering him with blow after crushing blow. " _And you don't get to walk away after hurting my Renny!_ " With that, she raised Magnhild above her head, bringing it down and detonating a grenade as she made contact. And SHE! _BROKE!_ _ **HIS!**_ _ **LEGS!**_

Ren was in a bad situation. He was wrapped up in an electrified cable, and the instant Buta decided to attack him instead of just watching him squirm, he'd be done for. "Well, I guess I'd better finish this up." Buta drawled lazily, tossing his hammer up and catching it. "Sorry, kid." Just as Buta began to swing, Ren felt the electric current running through the cable weaken and die. Siezing the opportunity, Ren leapt out to his right, narrowly avoiding Buta's strike, and opened fire.

As Buta staggered back, Ren dropped down and swept his legs out with a low kick. He then ducked in and struck Buta as he fell, channelling some of his remaining Aura into the blow and sending his opponent flying. With that, he closed in, guns barking and blades flashing. Buta swung wildly in an attempt to force Ren back while he regained his balance, but Ren was able to duck and weve between swings easily. "Damn it!" Buta roared in frustration. "Why can't I hit you?"

"Because I've got experience when it comes to hammers," Ren noted, disarming his adversary. "And my girlfriend's is bigger than yours anyway." He stopped to consider his choice of words. "Well, that came out wrong." _Is this what it's like to be Jaune?_ "Anyway," A sound, like the lovechild of a heavy impact and an explosion, rang out from within the mysterious darkness, which began to dissipate. "Nora just broke your boss's legs, you don't have a weapon, and Jaune and Pyrrha have your teammates dealt with." Buta hesitated for a moment.

"Did she really break Kage's legs?" He asked nervously.

"Probably," Ren replied calmly. "That's usually what she does."

"I surrender." Buta stated blankly, laying face-down on the ground with his hands behind his head.

" _Ren_!" Nora's voice rang out, leading Ren to turn his attention to the rapidly disappearing darkness just as Nora burst out of it, concern written all over her face. She grabbed him by the shoulders and stared into his eyes. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need first aid?"

"I'm fine." He reassured her, already bracing for a hug that would no doubt crack a rib or two…

"Don't Scare me like that!" Nora exclaimed, before surprising Ren with a hug that was unusually gentle, as though she was afraid he might break in half if she squeezed too hard. "I heard you screaming, and I thought…" She trailed off.

"I already told you, I'm _fine_." Ren murmured softly, returning her hug with, for quite possibly the first time in his life, more vigour than she'd shown him. "You saved me."

Author's Notes: Well, we're almost done! One more chapter of story and an epilogue's all that's left. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out. Hebi presented a genuine threat to Pyrrha, between the ceramic knives and the mesmerism. Jaune got a chance to show off his tactical thinking. Ren was, I'll admit a little neglected, but I just couldn't think of a good way to let him shine that wouldn't interfere with the central focus of this chapter. And of course, that central focus was the rematch between Nora and Kage. I'll be blunt; I'm really pleased with how the fight turned out. The hard part was working out how to make him threatening, but still beatable. In the end, I decided that the only option was to go full ninja; cheap shots, stealth, and darkness. And I knew from the start that I just _had_ to make use of Nora's Semblance for an epic turning point. Anything else would just be wasteful. Well, that's it for now, please leave reviews!


	21. Chapter 21: An Ending

It only took them a couple of minutes to disarm and restrain the assassins (although it took some self-control on Jaune's part to resist hitting Hebi when he made some fairly explicit comments as Pyrrha bound his hands). With that taken care of, Jaune called Ozpin. "Sir, we've captured Kage, as well as three other combatants."

"Is your team alright?" Ozpin enquired, looking impressed.

"We're fine." Jaune confirmed. "But you might want to send a medic, Nora broke Kage's legs pretty badly."

" _I will kill your parents and strangle you with their skin!_ " Kage bellowed furiously.

"I'm an orphan!" Nora replied cheerfully.

"Sit tight," Ozpin instructed. "A dropship will be there to collect you in a half hour." With that, the call ended.

"Well, I guess we'll be waiting a while." Jaune sighed. "Anyone for a game of I spy?" As it turned out, the dropship only took twenty minutes to arrive, and they were on their way back to Beacon in twenty-five.

"You really did a number on this one." The medic, who they recognised as the one who'd arrived the first time they fought Kage, commented idly. "His legs are right buggered."

"He had it coming!" Nora barked. "Nobody hurts my Ren and gets away with it!"

"Well, he's probably never going to be much of a fighter again on these legs. Wait…" One of his rabbit ears twitched. "Last time round, wasn't it him," He pointed at Ren. "Who nearly killed him," He pointed at Kage, "for hurting you?" He pointed at Nora.

"Pretty much." Ren confirmed.

"And now it's bloody backwards!" He exclaimed, shaking his head. "Kids, I swear…"

"People do crazy things when they're in love." Ren stated plainly.

"Oh, please!" Hebi snorted, straining half-heartedly against his restraints. "You get that off a cereal box?"

"Nora, don't hit him!" Jaune half-ordered, half-pleaded, already feeling the beginnings of his airsickness coming on. "He's our prisoner, we can't hurt him." He bent over as a fresh wave of nausea threatened to push him over the edge. "I wish I'd had time to grab some travel mints." Almost before he'd finished his half-spoken, half-moaned sentence, Pyrrha had a hand pressed lightly against his back, rubbing it with slow circular motions. "Thanks Pyrrha," Jaune murmured, feeling his nausea subside. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"It's nothing." Pyrrha replied flippantly. She was smiling, but something seemed… off. An uneasiness just under the surface.

"Are you okay?" Jaune asked. "You seem kind of uncomfortable."

"I'm fine." Pyrrha insisted, entirely unconvincingly.

"Pyyrha, you know yo cann tell me if something's wrong," Jaune promised, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here for you." For a moment, Pyrrha looked uncertain.

"It's silly…" She muttered.

"So?" Jaune asked incredulously. "It still bothers you."

"Well…" She still seemed unsure.

"Do I have to promise you a shoulder massage to make you talk?" Jaune asked jokingly. "Because I will."

"I needed your help." Pyrrha stated, looking embarrassed.

"…Oh." Jaune wasn't really sure what to say.

"I swear that wasn't meant as an insult!" Pyrrha clarified, sounding just a touch frantic. "It's just…" She sighed. "I'm a warrior, a _champion_. I'm meant to live up to my parents' expectations, to be great." She looked ashamed. "And I needed your help." If there was one thing Jaune knew, it was insecurity. And I was insecurity that he saw written across Pyrrha's face. "I shouldn't need help from someone I'm training."

"Well, maybe you should look at it this way;" Jaune began. "If you hadn't trained me so well, I wouldn't have been able to help. So in a way, you saved yourself!" He chuckled nervously, before seeing that his attempt at humour had fallen flat. "Okay, so you needed help to deal with Hebi, but so what? He was geared up specifically to beat your Semblance, he used a dirty trick, and he _still_ couldn't finish you off!" She looked a little better. "Look at me. _Look_ at me, Pyrrha." He hated that he needed to use such a stern tone of voice, but it felt necessary. "I'm not about to put you up on a pedestal, I know you hate that. I'm just going to go over some facts, okay?" Pyrrha nodded. "Okay, how many fights have you been in?"

"Does that include sparring matches?" Pyrrha asked.

"Sparring matches, Grimm, everything." Jaune confirmed.

"Then I've been in hundreds," Pyrrha answered. "Maybe thousands."

"And before today, when was the last time you lost a fight?" Jaune continued, maintaining a patient, soothing tone.

"Years ago." Pyrrha murmured.

"So you've still got a great track record!" Jaune exclaimed, half-cheerful, half-smug. "This was your first loss in years, and it wasn't even a real loss!" The tiniest hint of a grin tugged at Pyrrha's lips. "Besides, do you really think I could have taken Taka? You saved me more than once in that fight, so who cares if I saved you once?" A smile was faintly visible on her face. "Pyrrha, there's nothing wrong with needing help. You taught me that yourself, and I'll probably never be able to repay you for it."

"You're right." Pyrrha murmured softly.

"Actually, _you're_ right." Jaune joked. "I'm just giving you advice that you already gave me."

"Glad to see it sunk in." Pyrrha joked, a tiny giggle escaping from her lips.

"So, are you feeling better, or should I move onto how smart you are?" Jaune chuckled. "Because I'm happy to talk about how great you are all day, but you might get kinda bored after a while."

"That won't be necessary." Pyrrha laughed. "Thanks, Jaune. That really helped." With that, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Get a room!" Hebi yelled derisively from his restraints. They ignored him.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully, and the dropship made good time back to Beacon. The dropship was, unsurprisingly, surrounded by soldiers the instant it set down, and honestly, that was fine with Pyrrha; she wasn't sure she had the energy to stop Kage's team if they tried to escape. Rather than heading into school grounds, the soldiers lead them to an airship. Or rather, a gunship. Or rather, a flagship. Or rather, Ironwood's flagship. "General Ironwood's taking over?" Pyrrha enquired.

"Keep moving." The soldier she asked proved less than receptive. "Wait a minute…" She knew what that flash of recognition meant. "Say, aren't you Pyrrha Nikos?"

"That's me!" She said, forcing a cheerful lilt into her voice, just like her PR coach taught her.

"Oh wow, my daughter's a huge fan!" Any trace of professionalism in the soldier's voice had vanished. "She's been really sick lately, and watching your old fights online always cheers her up." He nervously reached into his pocket, pulling out a notebook. "I don't suppose you'd…"

"What's your daughter's name?" Pyrrha asked, taking the notebook, as well as a pen.

"Make it out to Ada," The soldier clarified. "And could you write something encouraging?" After a moment of thought, Pyrrha quickly wrote ' _To my devoted fan, Ada. Keep fighting! Things might seem scary now, but I'm sure you'll pull through. With love, Pyrrha Nikos._ '

"How's this?" She asked, handing back the notebook.

"Oh, this is perfect. Thanks, miss Nikos." He smiled warmly. "You don't know how much this'll mean to Ada." With that, the soldier slipped the notebook into a pocket and returned his attention to Kage's gang. "Eyes ahead, pal!" He suddenly barked at Buta. "You're not here to take in the sights!" After a moment, Pyrrha realised that Jaune was looking at her with a warm smile on his face.

"Well, something's got you in a good mood." She noted.

"You're amazing." He said happily. "all you need to do is write an autograph to make someone's day." Unsurprisingly, Pyrrha found herself blushing at this.

"I don't really think it's all that special…" Pyrrha began.

"That's what makes it so amazing!" Jaune exclaimed. "You only need a few seconds to make people happy!" His eyes seemed to shine as he talked, as though he were entranced by her face. "I wish I could do that." He smiled a small, warm, slightly unfocused smile, like a man recalling a fond memory or a pleasant dream.

"Well, you're pretty good at making me happy." She said, reaching out and grabbing his hand.

"Well, isn't that just _adorable_?" Hebi sneered, spitting at their feet. "Could we hurry up and get us in our cells and away from all these freakin' teenagers before I puke?" His forked tongue shot out for a moment. "Solitary confinement for preference, but I'll take what I can get." After a couple more minutes, they reached the holding cells and Kage's team were locked up.

"This way," The soldier who had requested an autograph instructed, not unkindly. "Professor Ozpin and general Ironwood are expecting you." He winced. "And Ironwood is _not_ a man you want to keep waiting."

"Ah, excellent timing children." Ozpin said. "I'm glad to see you're unharmed, and congratulations on your success. This is general Ironwood," He gestured towards the stern-looking man sitting at a desk. "Commander of the Atlas military, and an old friend of mine. He'll be taking custody of Kage's Team. Again." For a moment, the ghost of a wry smile flickered across Ozpin's features, only to vanish.

"A pleasure to meet you," Ironwood said stiffly. "And thank you for your assistance in this matter. As you can imagine, it was rather embarrassing to lose a prisoner, not to mention worrying, and I appreciate your help in resolving this issue quickly and discreetly."

"Well, sir, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, sir, but, well…" Jaune trailed off nervously, clearly terrified of speaking up to general Ironwood.

"I think what Jaune is trying to say," Pyrrha spoke up, taking mercy on her frightened boyfriend. "Is that we'd like to know how you plan to stop them from escaping again."

"Well, there's no need to worry about that," Ironwood stated confidently. "I've posted my best soldiers on guard duty and doubled security measures."

"Which bring us to the issue at hand." Ozpin interjected. "We can't be entirely certain of your security measures until we find out how Kage escaped. So children," He smiled at them in a slightly odd manner. "Would you like to see an interrogation?"

Once they were at the cells, Ozpin and Ironwood discussed the issue of who to interrogate. "There's no point in trying it against Kage," Ironwood stated bluntly. "The man's a professional."

"Well, Taka's got the look of a true believer," Ozpin opined. "And I don't like our chances of getting anywhere with Buta."

"Hebi's our best bet." Ironwood said matter-of-factly. "I know his type, he's the sort who tries to enlist just to loot the battlefield." Ironwood scowled. "Pure mercenary. People like him have no convictions," He smiled humourlessly. "Which makes them easy to break."

"Hebi it is." Ozpin assented. "Would you mind-"

"Be my guest." Ironwood replied. "You've always been better at this anyway." And with that, Ozpin walked into Hebi's cell.

"So, is this the part where you rough me up?" Hebi sneered.

"Is that what you think this is?" Ozpin asked calmly. "The illegal and immoral abuse of a prisoner?"

"It's what I'd do if I needed information." Hebi replied nonchalantly.

"Well, I suppose we just have different methods." Ozpin said.

"Oh, so now you're doing the whole 'moral superiority' bit, right?" Hebi scoffed.

"Not at all! Besides," Ozpin chuckled. "You don't seem like the sort to be concerned about the moral high ground."

"You got that right." Hebi snickered.

"What's he doing?" Pyrrha whispered, observing through a pane of two-way glass. She wasn't sure what she'd expected, but this wasn't it.

"He's interrogating the suspect." Ironwood replied gruffly. "Torture's pointless for interrogation; they just tell you what they think you want to hear. Intimidation's the same. You need to make them want to tell you."

"You're a pragmatist, aren't you?" Ozpin half-asked, half-told Hebi. "You look out for yourself, and no-one else. After all," He continued. "Who else can you trust?"

"Nobody, that's who!" Hebi spat.

"And because you're a pragmatist, you're probably already thinking of how to improve your lot in this whole mess." Ozpin prompted.

"What kind of person do you take me for?" Hebi asked, sounding mildly offended. "Of course I am."

"And if that just happens to make life difficult for your team, then so be it." Now that Pyrrha knew what she was looking at, it became clear that Ozpin was playing Hebi like a piano.

"Those idiots?" Hebi snorted contemptuously. "You can kill 'em for all I care." Pyrrha felt her hands ball into fists at that; what sort of person would just turn their back on their teammates like that? The whole idea turned her stomach, just through the sheer _wrongness_ of it.

"Well then, maybe you'd be interested in a deal?" Ozpin prompted.

"I want full immunity." Hebi demanded. "Not to mention relocation to Vacuo and a new identity."

"I'm afraid that's completely out of the question." Ozpin rebuffed. "And I think you knew that when you asked for it." He leaned closer to Hebi. "So let's be a little more realistic. Do you have any family? Because I promise you, they'll be looked after."

"I…" Hebi hesitated for a moment. "I believe you. So, that's your approach? If I want to be sure that my little brother's okay, I tell you what you want to know?" That caught Pyrrha off-guard; she really hadn't expected Hebi to have anyone he cared about.

"No, if you want to be sure that he's okay, you ask us." Ozpin corrected. "His wellbeing is not contingent on your cooperation."

"You're gonna have to get that to me in writing if you wanna make a deal." Hebi scowled.

"As luck would have it," Ozpin replied. "I have the paperwork with me. Simply fill in his name where indicated and sign it, and you'll have an ironclad guarantee of your brother's safety and wellbeing."

"Lemme see that!" Hebi snatched the document out of Ozpin's hand. "Holy… This is legit." He sounded surprised, confused and, to Pyrrha's ear at least, a little awed. "You're seriously gonna look out for my little bro."

"That's simply how we do things." Ozpin said, laying a hand on Hebi's shoulder. "Now, what else would you like?"

"They can't find out I told you anything." Hebi said nervously. "They'd kill me. My little bro, too."

"We'll interrogate the others to allay suspicion." Ozpin said reassuringly. "And you'll all be kept separate during incarceration, so there's no risk of it slipping out in conversation. Any other requests?" Pyrrha noted his choice of words; referring to them as requests rather than demands. Softening the situation, while subtly reminding Hebi of his powerlessness.

"I, I just…" Hebi stammered, tears filling his eyes. "I just want my old life back!" Pyrrha was taken aback; was this really the sadistic monster she'd fought? This weeping mess? It just didn't add up.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Ozpin said sympathetically. "And I think you know that."

"Yeah," Hebi sighed. "I do." Silence weighed heavily for a moment. "I wasn't always like this, y'know? Sure, I always had a temper, but I wasn't a bad person." Pyrrha suddenly realised that Hebi was actually pretty young, mid-to-late-twenties at the oldest. "But the way people treated me, teachers, cops, my parents… well, what chance did I have?" He demanded angrily. "What chance did one man have against the whole freakin' world?!"

"The world can be terribly cruel." Ozpin murmured.

"But I never killed nobody!" Hebi whimpered pathetically. "I just roughed people up, or kidnapped 'em! This was my first kill mission, I swear!" And suddenly, it clicked into place in Pyrrha's head; that terrifying, leering psychopath she'd thought didn't really exist. It had all just been bravado and bitterness.

"I believe you." Ozpin said reassuringly, and, to her surprise, Pyrrha realised that she believed Hebi as well.

"My little bro's still just a kid," Hebi murmured, sounding almost like he was talking to himself. "You can't let my parents take him." Suddenly, Hebi had a desperate, half-crazed look about him. "You can't even let them know where he is!" He pleaded. "You don't know what they'll do to him!" Pyrrha began to feel sorry for him; the fear in his voice was obvious. _What could have happened to him, to make him so afraid of his own parents? What did they do to him?_

"I can imagine," Ozpin replied dryly. "Which is why I promise we'll find alternative accommodation for your brother."

"I want that-" Hebi began before Ozpin cut him off.

"And of course, I'll be happy to provide that in writing." Ozpin interjected without missing a beat. "Everything we agree on will be protected by law, I assure you."

"He's a good kid," Hebi said, suddenly sounding very small indeed. "Find someone nice to look after him, okay?"

"You have my word." Ozin replied solemnly. "Is that all?"

"Man, I don't even know…" Hebi looked, downcast, uncertain. In a word; broken. "I mean, you're gonna help me, but then what? I rot in jail for a few years, can't find a job, and fall back on the same stupid decisions that got me here in the first place? What's the point?"

"Then maybe you should start thinking about your future." Ozpin suggested. "I believe I can help you here; there are programs to teach useful skills to those incarcerated, giving them a trade to ply when they return to society."

"Learn a trade, huh?" Hebi grinned. "I like the sound of that."

"Furthermore, I can put you into contact with several organisations that make a point of hiring those with criminal records." Ozpin offered. "Would that be to your likings, Hebi?"

"Don't call me that," Hebi replied. "That's just a codename, it's not me."

"And who are you?" Ozpin enquired.

"Kentaro." He replied. "My name is Kentaro."

After that, the interrogation went quickly; paperwork was brought in and signed, and Kentaro revealed that Kage's escape had been facilitated by a crewmember named Iago. Suffice to say, Iago had been removed from active duty and placed into custody. Furthermore, he'd explained exactly how Iago had helped Kage to escape, as well as providing information on the rest of his former team. "Well, I'd say that went rather well," Ozpin commented upon leaving Kentaro's cell. "Wouldn't you?"

Ren was tired. Tired and sore. And sweaty. And a little hungry, too. He needed a shower, some food and a nap, in that order. Food could be arranged easily enough. A nap was as simple as collapsing onto his bed. The shower, though… "Well, this is familiar," Ren murmured to himself. "Four people, one shower."

"Well, it's not as bad as that," Jaune replied. "I sent Ruby a message while Ozpin was interrogating Kentaro, and she says we can use her Team's bathroom too."

"Four people, two showers." Ren amended.

"Use ours." Dove suggested, walking past their door. "We kind of owe it to you."

"We're still one short." Ren muttered.

"I know what we can do!" Nora exclaimed, before running to her dresser.

"So…" Jaune began, the unspoken question obvious.

"I don't know what Nora's up to." Ren sighed. "I know her better than anyone else, but she can still surprise me." _Just the way you like it, eh?_

"Tah-dah!" Nora waved a plain, two-piece swimsuit. _What in the world is she up to?_

"How does a swimsuit help?" Ren enquired, although an answer was already taking shape in his mind. _Given how Nora looks at the world, a swimsuit in this situation could mean…_

"We can share a shower!" Nora said enthusiastically. _Of course._ "You just need to get your swimming trunks on and there's no problem!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ren asked, carefully hiding how nervous he felt.

"Why not? It's nothing we haven't seen before." Nora replied cheerfully. "Remember that trip to the beach?"

"How could I forget?" Ren shuddered. "My swimming trunks snagged on something while I was swimming, it took me an hour to find them."

"Exactly!" Nora crowed triumphantly. "Nothing I haven't seen before!"

"Wait, is she saying that she's seen your…" Jaune trailed off awkwardly.

"Not that I know of." Ren answered, suddenly feeling more than a little panicked as he shot a questioning look Nora's way.

"Nope, just your butt!" She responded. "You have a really nice butt." Ren was feeling… a lot of stuff at once. Embarrassment, obviously; that just went without saying. But at the same time, part of him was glad to hear that she liked his… that she liked it.

"You know what? Sure." He knew it was immature, but he enjoyed seeing the look of surprise on Nora's face. "Could you grab my trunks since you're there already?" And, predictably (a word that he was almost never able to apply to Nora), her look of surprise quickly turned into one of excitement. "But we're just showering, nothing else."

"Of course we're just showering!" Nora exclaimed. "I don't move _that_ fast, silly!" And with that, they gathered some fresh clothes and headed into the bathroom (it was decided that they should take the one in their dorm, so as to avoid having to answer any awkward questions). The first couple of minutes passed without incident, and for a second Ren thought that it might not end up being too awkward or… dangerously exciting. But that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?

"Well, that's not good." Ren murmured as he tried to soap up his back. No matter what angle he approached from, his muscles responded with a jolt of pain.

"What's wrong?" Nora asked.

"I think that shock did something to my muscles," Ren replied. "They seize up whenever I try to reach my back." He turned so that she could see his back. "Can you see anything wrong with my shoulders?"

"Ooh," Nora sounded concerned. "That's really cramped up bad, huh?"

"Yeah, I can't reach half my back." Ren confirmed. Suddenly, he felt Nora's hand, right where he'd been unable to reach. "Nora?"

"I've got your back." She replied. "Pun intended." And with that, she soaped up his back and began to scrub.

"This is a little embarrassing." Ren muttered, blushing faintly.

"Why? We took baths together when we were kids, remember?" Nora rebutted. "We used to scrub each other's backs back then, too."

"Yeah, but we were just kids." Ren replied nervously. "We weren't dating back then and…" Ren trailed off, too embarrassed to voice the other half of his thought.

"And what?" Nora asked.

"And… that was before I found you attractive." He reluctantly explained. "Before I found anyone attractive." There was a moment of silence, save for the sound of the water.

" _Bwahahahah_!" Nora's laugh was explosive, like a grenade detonating in the shower. "You goof, is that all?"

"I just don't want to get too… _excited_ , and freak you out." Ren replied defensively.

"You couldn't if you tried!" Nora snorted derisively.

"Oh?" Ren decided that maybe they didn't have to _just_ shower. "Well, we'll see about that, just as soon as you're done with my back."

It took them another twenty minutes to finish their shower. Well, they were showering at various points in the next twenty minutes, in between making out. Well, they were under the water for twenty minutes. It had started tame enough; once Nora was done washing Ren's back, he decided to return the favour. After that… well, things got a little out of hand. And other things got _in_ hand, or at least, found their way into hands. Butts. There was a great deal of butt-grabbing. And once it was done, they were presented with a challenge that they hadn't considered. Well, a challenge Ren hadn't considered. He suspected that Nora had already though of this but chosen to remain silent.

"So," Ren began calmly. "We need to dry off and get dressed."

"Yep!" Nora agreed.

"But to do that, we need to take our bathing suits off." Ren continued. "We will be naked."

"Yep!" Nora remained unphased.

"We should probably work out how we're going to handle this." Ren stated plainly.

"Yep!" There was an almost predatory gleam in Nora's eye.

"You're not going to turn around and let me get dressed in peace, are you?" Ren sighed.

"Nope!" Or rather, an _intensely_ predatory gleam.

"I didn't think so." Ren muttered, reaching for his towel.

"What took you so long?" Jaune asked as Ren and Nora walked into the cafeteria. "We were starting to worry."

"I'm sure you were devastated to have some time alone together." Ren deadpanned. "I just hope you can find a way to forgive us."

"Fair enough," Jaune chuckled. "Now let's eat!"

"Say, Ren…" Pyrrha began, her eyes narrowing. "Did you get dressed in a hurry?" Ren very nearly choked on his sandwich.

"What makes you say that?" Ren didn't show how nervous he was. He _knew_ that he didn't show it.

"You did up the buttons wrong." Pyrrha explained gesturing to his tailcoat.

"I guess I wasn't paying much attention." Ren muttered, supressing a blush.

"And one leg of your pants is tucked into your sock." Jaune noted.

"I didn't want to keep you waiting, so I dressed a little faster than usual." Ren countered defensively.

"And your pants are on backwards." Pyrrha pointed out, wearing the sort of sickly-sweet smile that you only see from people trying to hide how much fun they're having watching someone squirm.

"You figured it out, didn't you?" Ren sighed.

"The problem with your plan?" Jaune chuckled. "Yeah, we figured it out."

"Before or after you left?" Ren asked.

"After!" Jaune replied, sounding genuinely offended.

"Before." Pyrrha answered quietly, and only after a moment of silence.

"Nora?" Ren shot his girlfriend a Look. "Did you figure that out before we started to shower too?"

"It's why I said it!" She chirped happily.

"Of course it is." Ren sighed. "I don't know why I bothered asking."

"You're not mad, are you?" Nora asked, suddenly looking worried.

"Ask me again after I've dealt with these muscle cramps." Ren moaned, rolling and stretching his shoulders in a futile attempt to loosen them.

"Something's wrong with your shoulders?" Jaune asked, sounding concerned.

"I think that shock I took did something to them." Ren explained. "I can barely move them."

"You should really get that looked at." Jaune counselled.

"Great," Ren mumbled. "Something else to do before I get any rest."

"I've got an idea!" Nora crowed.

"As good as your last one?" Ren joked.

"Why don't you get Jaune to help you?" Nora suggested. "He knows how to do those physical therapy massage thingies, so a muscle cramp should be easy!"

"I can think of a couple of reasons why that's a bad idea," Ren began. _Like the awkwardness, the potential to start embarrassing rumours, and the mild homoeroticism._ "But right now, I'm too tired to bring them up." He turned to Jaune, who looked mildly uncomfortable. "So, do I need to take my shirt off or something?"

"I mean… I guess that makes it easier." Jaune confirmed after a moment's hesitation.

"Well, okay then." Ren said, slipping his tailcoat off.

"Hey, listen Ren, I'm not entirely sure if I'm comfortable…" Jaune trailed off as Ren removed his shirt and showed him his shoulders. "Oh, wow. Those are… wow. And you've spent the last couple of hours with your shoulders cramped up like this?"

"It was worse before I showered." Ren clarified.

"Sit down, don't move." Jaune instructed, suddenly all business. "And I'll just warn you now; this is probably gonna hurt." It did. A lot.

"It wasn't as bad as getting electrocuted," Ren commented idly, buttoning up his tailcoat. "But it was close."

"You're just being melodramatic." Jaune rebuked him.

"Melodramatic." That was all Ren said, and all he needed to say. A single, flat word, delivered without emotion was enough to convey the absurdity of the accusation.

"Okay, yeah, I get how stupid that sounds." Jaune conceded.

"I'm going to bed." Ren stated bluntly.

"I'll come with you!" Nora exclaimed.

"We'll only be sleeping." Ren clarified, seeing the look on Jaune's face. "You know that, right Nora?"

"I know!" She confirmed happily, grabbing his arm and dragging him back to the dorm.

"Okay," Ren sighed. "What's this about?"

"What do you mean?" Nora asked, seeming genuinely baffled.

"The trip back, the shower, ad this," He elaborated. "You haven't let me out of your sight since the fight ended."

"You nearly died." Nora whispered, her voice shaky. "I just wanna keep you close for a while, okay?" Moisture glimmered in her eyes.

"Okay." Ren replied, wrapping his arms around Nora.

After finishing their meals, Jaune and Pyrrha took their time heading back to the dorm. "Careful," Jaune whispered. "We don't want to wake Ren and Nora."

"I'll be careful." Pyrrha replied. "I'm lighter on my feet than you, after all."

"Yeah, I know." Jaune chuckled softly. He fell silent, however, when he saw Ren and Nora. "Hey, Pyrrha!" He hissed. "Come take a look at this!"

"What is it?" She asked, before her face lit up as she saw what Jaune was talking about. "Oh! That's so…"

"Adorable." Jaune agreed, looking at the sight before him with a warm smile on his face. There, sleeping quite comfortably in each other's arms, were Ren and Nora. "They both look so happy."

"I think they were a little shaken up." Pyrrha noted. "After all, they nearly lost each other today."

"I don't even want to think about it." Jaune shuddered. "Thinking about what that'd do to them is just… no."

"I don't know if either of them _could_ live without the other." Pyrrha said, sounding disturbed.

"Like I said, I'd rather not think about it." Jaune replied. "Anyway, I guess I'd better leave."

"What?" Pyrrha asked, sounding confused. "What happened to resting?"

"I don't want to wake those two up." Jaune explained. "And I get the feeling that after today I'm not going to be sleeping too peacefully." With that, he crept out of the room, and was somewhat surprised when Pyrrha followed him.

"I can never get to sleep after a fight." Pyrrha explained. "Maybe in a few hours when my heart's stopped racing and my mind's moving at normal speed."

"You've never had any trouble sleeping after our sparring matches." Jaune noted. "… Oh, I just insulted myself, didn't I?"

"You're impossible!" Pyrrha laughed. "And no, you didn't insult yourself. Sparring matches are different because there's no stakes."

"Not that I'd be anything to worry about in a real fight." He chuckled. "I guess I'll just have to find _other_ ways to make your heart race."

"Why, mister arc!" Pyrrha exclaimed, putting on a voice like a scandalised society lady and playfully slapping him on the arm. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean!"

"Then I guess it's my turn to teach you." Jaune smirked, leaning in a capturing Pyrrha's lips with his own.

Suffice to say, the next few minutes were highly enjoyable for the couple, and Jaune _did_ in fact get Pyrrha's heart racing. But, as they calmed down afterwards, it became more and more obvious to Jaune that they needed to get some sleep. "Why are you so sure that you'll have nightmares?" Pyrrha demanded after Jaune's fifth refusal to go to bed.

"It's stupid." He muttered nervously.

"Tell me anyway." Pyrrha replied.

"It's kind of hard to explain." Jaune stammered.

"Try your best." Pyrrha responded, a hint of frustration creeping into her voice.

" _Because I nearly lost you, okay_?!" Jaune blurted it out, his eyes wet with the threat of tears. "I nearly lost you, and Ren and Nora, and it scared me."

"Jaune, I…" Pyrrha trailed off. She _wanted_ to say something, but the words just wouldn't come.

"Ren nearly got his head caved in, Nora was lucky to survive, and you…" Jaune shuddered. "You were almost killed right in front of me." He locked eyes with her, and she could see pain and fear writ large across his face. "And when I go to sleep… _no_!" There was desperation in his voice. "I won't go through that, I _can't_!"

"Jaune…" Pyrrha murmured, uncertain of what to say or do.

"Aw man, and now I've gone and made it your problem, haven't I?" He said apologetically. "Don't worry about me, just go get some rest and—" He fell silent as Pyrrha lay her hand on his cheek, leaning toward him.

"Jaune, I nearly died today." She saw him wince slightly as she said it. "I know I'm hiding it well, but I'm still processing that." She leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek. "The reason I want you to go to bed is because, well…" She felt herself blush. "I was hoping we could follow Nora's example?"

"Oh." Jaune replied dully. Then, a look of realisation rose across his face. "Oh!" He squeaked, blushing tremendously.

"That stuffed lion you won me is nice," Pyrrha whispered. "But I think I'd rather cuddle up to you."

"Uh, excuse me, I just need to… yeah…" Jaune bolted into their dorm, reappearing less than a minute later in his gym clothes. "Okay, I'm ready."

"No onesie pyjamas?" Pyrrha joked.

"I figured I'd spare you the embarrassment." Jaune chuckled. "We're already in for some serious teasing if our friends find out, and I'd rather not give them extra ammo."

"Fair enough," Pyrrha replied. "I guess I'd better get changed too." It only took her a minute to change into her pyjamas, which honestly, were pretty similar to Jaune's.

"Wow, that look, uh… works a little better on you." Jaune commented, blushing profusely.

"Oh, I don't know," Pyrrha purred, looking Jaune up and down, paying special attention to his shoulders and his collarbone. "It looks like it's working for you from where I'm standing. Now," She cocked one eyebrow, smirking slightly. "Your bed or mine?" It took them a couple of (very awkward minutes) to get comfortable, but when they were… it was something special. She knew it was silly, given their respective levels of ability but laying in Jaune's arms, she felt… safe. She'd be hard pressed to find anyone at all, except for maybe his youngest sister, who would give credence to the idea that Jaune could keep her safe from anything she couldn't handle on her own, but lying there, she knew that he'd try anyway.

"Well," Jaune murmured. "Good night, Pyrrha." He smiled warmly at her.

"Good night Jaune." Pyrrha whispered, leaning forward slightly for a peck on the lips. It wasn't exactly what she'd been expecting; she'd prepared herself for butterflies in the stomach, blushes so bright as to be scorching, hearts on the verge of palpitations, and just generally too much excitement in the air to sleep. She'd expected the tension to crackle in the air like electricity, but instead, she found the whole thing rather calming, like a warm blanket on a cold night. So comfortable, so soothing, it seemed to drain every scrap of energy from her body…

Pyrrha woke up refreshed, contented, and, well, a tiny bit confused. The last thing she could remember was cuddling with Jaun, and then… _Could you really have fallen asleep that fast?_ _You've never done that before._ Honestly, she felt a little cheated; she'd shared a bed with Jaune, and she only got to enjoy it for five minutes! _Okay, wow. Care to rephrase that thought in a way that wouldn't make Yang laugh until she threw up?_ She felt Jaune's arm tighten slightly around her belly, pulling her in closer by a fraction of an inch, and reflected that she was still in a good place. And that's when (come on, you know where this is heading, you've read up until this point) her Scroll rang.

"Are you one of Jaune's sisters?" Pyrrha sighed as a girl, fourteen at the oldest appeared on her Scroll's screen.

"Guilty as charged!" She replied cheerfully. "I'm Cassy." Cassy had brown hair in an A-line cut, wire-framed eyeglasses, and freckles. So, so many freckles. "And you're… in bed with my brother." Suddenly, Cassy's face turned crimson (which only served to make the freckles more apparent). "Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry, I had no idea you were—"

"We're not!" Pyrrha interrupted frantically. "We were just cuddling, I swear!" She threw back the covers. "Fully clothed, see? We were both a little shaken up after yesterday, so I asked to cuddle."

"Awww!" Cassy's expression shifted instantly, as if a switch had been flipped. "Treating him like a big ol' teddy bear, huh? Suzy used to do the same thing whenever she had a nightmare."

"I hate to be rude, but why were you calling me?" Pyrrha asked, already suspecting she knew the answer.

"Well, it's about you dating Jaune…" Cassy began awkwardly.

"I knew it!" Pyrrha crowed. "So, are you going to threaten me as well?"

"Nah, that was Amy and Claudia's job." Cassy said dismissively. "We worked this whole routine out years ago."

"So what's your job?" Pyrrha asked.

"Appealing to your emotions." Cassy replied calmly. "The best reason not to kill a whale is that you'll have a dead whale. Do you know the best reason not to break Jaune's heart?"

"Because then I'll have sweet, loving boy with a broken heart." Pyrrha replied. "And the worst part is, I really would still have him."

"You really would," Cassy agreed. "He'd still care about you and want you to be happy."

"I won't break his heart." Pyrrha said simply. "I promise you, whatever else happens, that's one thing I'll never do."

"In that case, have fun!" Cassy said cheerfully. "And get him to make you his chorizo and potatoes sometime!" And with that, she hung up.

"…Well," Pyrrha muttered to herself. "Hopefully that was the last of his sisters to call me over this." _Seriously, it's going to get old fast if the other four call you._

Jaune woke up feeling incredible. He really didn't understand it in his half-awake state; he'd been expecting his sleep to be rife with nightmares, but he'd apparently been wrong. _But why?_

"Good morning Jaune." Pyrrha's voice cut through the fog in his head, and as he turned to face her, he was greeted with a warm smile and a faint blush. _…Oh right, that's why. You're the luckiest man in Remnant._

"Morning Pyrrha." Jaune replied, beaming like an idiot. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I slept well," Pyrrha giggled. "How about you?"

"Like a log!" Jaune exclaimed happily. "We need to do this again some time."

"Sounds good to me," Pyrrha smirked. "But I'm not sure if your sisters would approve."

"Let me guess," Jaune sighed. "Cassy." He didn't even need to ask; it could only be her.

"She was actually really nice," Pyrrha replied. "Although it did start off a little awkward…"

"How awkward?" Jaune asked, trying to ignore the familiar pull of anxiety in the back of his mind.

"Well, I was in bed when she called." Pyrrha explained. "Next to you."

"…Oh." Jaune squeaked, feeling low-grade anxiety explode into rampant panic. "Well, I guess I'd better just jump off the roof then, huh? You know, to escape the embarrassment."

"Don't worry, I explained it, so they don't think we're…" Pyrrha trailed off, blushing luminously.

"So she knows we're not…" Jaune trailed off himself, and knew he was blushing even more than Pyrrha. "That's a relief." There was a moment of silence. And then several moments more, each more awkward than the last. "So, uh, how about we get some breakfast?"

All eyes were on them the instant they walked into the cafeteria. It was, honestly, kind of creepy. "Uh, hi." Jaune said in a small voice, waving nervously.

"Why are they staring at us?" Pyrrha asked, maintaining a smile despite the awkwardness of their situation.

"Because you guys kicked some serious butt!" Yang exclaimed, swooping in seemingly out of nowhere and throwing her arms around their shoulders. "You can't take down an assassin without getting' some serious rep for it!"

"Well, technically Nora took down the assassin," Jaune mumbled. "Hebi's never actually killed anyone, and I don't know much about Taka and Buta."

"Nobody cares about the details!" Yang laughed, slapping Jaune on the back hard enough so make him stagger forward three steps. "Just enjoy your time in the spotlight!"

"I've never really liked being the centre of attention." Jaune said meekly.

"Well you'd better get used to it!" Nora chirped, popping up behind Jaune.

"She's got a point." Ren noted, walking into the cafeteria. "After all, you're dating a star." Jaune looked at Pyrrha, then back at the crowd.

"I'll get used to it," He shrugged. "One day. Probably." And then as if to say 'you think the last few days have been weird? You don't even know what weird _is_ ', Cardin swooped in out of nowhere, a giant, moronic grin on his face, and swept Jaune up into a bear hug. "Uh, Cardin?"

"She's awake!" Cardin crowed.

"Who's awake?" Jaune asked, completely lost in the current conversation.

"Isn't it great?" Cardin ignored him completely, releasing him from the hug and running through the cafeteria, hugging other students seemingly at random. To jaune's surprise, one of thos apparently random students was Velvet, who, shockingly enough, hugged him back. _You live in a world where that just happened._ It was an oddly liberating thought, and a source of courage.

"So, uh, Pyrrha… I was wondering if… maybe you'd be interested in catching a movie… this weekend?" Jaune hated himself for hesitating so much.

"We're already dating," Pyrrha giggled. "You really don't have to be so nervous!" She rested her head on his shoulder. "And I've been meaning to see that new Iris Teal movie."

"Great!" Jaune exclaimed. "I'll buy us tickets today."

"Make sure to get seats in the back so you two won't be _interrupted_." Yang said in a stage whisper loud enough to ensure that the entire cafeteria heard her.

"Real classy, Yang." Jaune huffed, blushing hugely as the room around him exploded into laughter.

"You know," Pyrrha whispered into his ear. "That's not such a bad idea."

"W-what?!" Jaune squeaked, experiencing what could best be described as 'terrified elation'.

"Just a thought," Pyrrha smirked. "Arc Angel.

Author's Notes: Roll credits! No, really, that's the end of the story proper! After this there'll be an epilogue, and then that'll be it for Arc Angel! Next will be a totally self-indulgent fic involving my OCs, a weird little one-shot set some time in the future, and then, after that, I'll move on to other fandoms. Honestly, this chapter, while occasionally infuriating to write, was fun. I only came up with the idea to make Hebi more than just a psycho right as I started writing the interrogation. And the shared shower? The cuddling in bed? The third sister to call? All just me winging it. Well, I guess there's really nothing left to say except please review, and I hope you liked it!


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